Melton, Wyndham and Melbourne local government areas are likely to be the fastest-growing metropolitan areas during the next 20 years, new Planning Department figures reveal.
The figures show Victoria’s population is likely to reach 10 million people by the middle of the century, with Melbourne swelling to almost 8 million.
Melbourne’s current population is 4.3 million, while the state has 5.7 million residents.
Victoria in Future, released by Planning Minister Matthew Guy last Friday, shows that 720,000 extra people will live within Melbourne’s suburban boundaries by 2031. The report also shows that the fertility rate will remain constant at 1.8 children per woman.
The report predicts that more than half of the regional growth in the state until 2051 will come from people moving out of Melbourne to towns like Ballarat and Geelong. Life expectancy for those born in 2051 is expected to be 87.6 years for males and 89.9 years for females.
The report was produced to help inform the state government’s recent Plan Melbourne strategy.
Mr Guy said people were choosing to live and raise a family in Victoria “confident of what the future holds”.
For detailed breakdowns of the projected growth figures, visit www.dtpli.vic.gov.au/victoria-in-future-2014.
