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South Australia is forecast to add 510, 000 people by 2046. The Adelaide Central and Hills region contributes around 19% of this growth, reflecting its role as the main area of high-rise living and having one of the largest greenfield developments in the State.

The Region contains Adelaide City Council (The ‘square mile’ and North Adelaide) as well as inner southern, eastern and northern council areas (Burnside, Norwood Payneham and St Peters, Campbelltown, Walkerville, Prospect and Unley) and stretching out to the Adelaide Hills (Adelaide Hills and Mount Barker District council).

Adelaide is the capital of South Australia and the Adelaide SA2 contains the central business district, is the seat of state government administration and has the highest concentration of civic buildings. It also has the main campuses of the newly merged Adelaide University and has a large student population.

The inner suburbs of the region are well established, with redevelopment largely occurring via infill or along key arterial roads (e.g. Greenhill Road, Churchill Road)

The Adelade Hills are relatively sparsely populated rural or semi-rural areas with little growth due to planning restrictions and topography; however Mt Barker is a significant greenfield growth area, expanding from the original historical settlement.

Key Findings

South Australia is forecast to add 510, 000 people by 2046. The Adelaide Central and Hills region contributes around 19% of this growth, reflecting its role as the main area of high-rise living and home to one of the largest greenfield developments in the State.
As a whole, the region is expected to grow modestly at 0.6% p.a., although the city (1.8% p.a.) and Mt Barker (2.3% p.a.) will grow considerably faster. Adelaide City had a population of around 43,000 in 1915, this dropped over time to around 13,000 in 1998/9. The current population has rebounded to about 30,000 and is forecast to continue to increase as the main location of higher density living in South Australia.
The Greater Adelaide Regional Plan doesn’t identify any significant new greenfield development in the region; it expects growth along arterial roads and via infill. Renewal SA has some medium sized brownfield sites (eg Prospect, Magill, Glenside, Forestville and a number of sites in Adelaide City) delivering a few hundred new dwellings each.
In socio-economic terms, the region is the most advantaged in the state, particularly in the LGAs of Burnside and Unley. These are places with ageing populations, distinct from the student heavy City and young family dominant Mt Barker.

What share of Australia's growth will occur in South Australia?

Read our forecast results and analysis for South Australia to learn more about how the different drivers of population change affect the distribution of growth throughout the state.

The population forecast for South Australia

	2021	2026	2031	2036	2041	2046
Forecast Population	315,729	340,443	355,097	367,072	375,421	380,946
Change (five year)	-	24,714	14,654	11,975	8,349	5,523
Average Annual Change (%)	-	1.52%	0.85%	0.67%	0.45%	0.29%
Forecast Dwellings	129,202	137,196	142,875	148,812	153,815	158,055
Change (five year)	-	7,998	5,682	5,937	5,006	4,238
Average Annual Change (%)	-	1.21%	0.81%	0.82%	0.66%	0.55%

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