Regional snapshot
Melbourne’s East covers an area of 2964 square kilometres, extending from densely populated urban villages in the west to less populated rural areas in the east. It covers the local government areas of Boroondara, Knox, Manningham, Maroondah, Monash, Whitehorse and the Yarra Ranges.
- Melbourne’s East has a population of 1.03 million people (26 per cent of Melbourne).
- There are 544,296 employed people in the region (or 53 per cent of the total population), compared with Melbourne’s average of 51 per cent.
- Major employers are retail trade, manufacturing, health and community, and property and business services.
- The region has the lowest unemployment rates of Melbourne, averaging 5.2 per cent compared with the metropolitan Melbourne average of 6 per cent. However, this overall statistic masks pockets of higher unemployment.
- The region’s Gross Regional Product is $28.39 billion (22 per cent of Melbourne).
- This region has lower population growth than other Melbourne regions, with forecast growth of 0.54 per cent from 2011 to 2026 reaching 1,115,675 by 2026. However, by 2010 the population of the region has already exceeded the population forecast for 2011 and is growing at a higher rate than expected.
- The region has almost 250,000 working age people, not currently in education, who have completed Year 12. At around 65 per cent, this is above the average for metropolitan Melbourne of 61 per cent. Only 19.2 per cent left school before completing Year 11 or equivalent, while for metropolitan Melbourne this was 23 per cent.
- Young families with children under the age of 15 comprise 32 per cent of households, with one-parent families comprising 14 per cent.
- Approximately 22.5 per cent of residents come from a non-English speaking background, with the most common languages other than English spoken at home in 2006 being Cantonese (3.4 per cent), Greek (3.4 per cent), Mandarin (3.0 per cent) and Italian (2.5 per cent).
Aspirations
- Australia's most desirable urban region
- The centre of Australia's innovation and knowledge industries
- Australia's best connected region
- The region offering the premium living – at the heart of the best employment, environment, lifestyle and business opportunities.
