page_title: Melbourne city centre
section_title: Demographics
hierarchical_section_title: Melbourne city centre / Demographics
caption_attribution_description: English: 568 Collins Street, Melbourne city centre.
context_page_description: Melbourne city centre is the central built up area of the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, centred on the Hoddle Grid, the oldest part of the city laid out in 1837, and includes its fringes. It is not to be confused with the larger local government area of the City of Melbourne which includes this area and the inner suburbs around it.
  The boundaries are not precise as it is not currently an official area, but the area of boundaries of the Australian Bureau of Statistics Statistical Area Level 2 'Melbourne' represents the commonly understood area of what is usually meant by 'the CBD' or 'the city'; this includes the Hoddle Grid, plus the area of parallel streets just to the north up to Victoria Street including the Queen Victoria Market, but not the Flagstaff Gardens, and the area between Flinders Street and the Yarra river.
  The Central City is the core of Greater Melbourne's metropolitan area, and is a major financial centre in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. It is home to Melbourne's famed alleyways and arcades and is renowned for its distinct blend of contemporary and Victorian architecture, and home to five of the six tallest buildings in Australia.
context_section_description: According to the 2016 census, the population of the CBD (the Level 2 statistical area of Melbourne) was 37,321 residents, about half of which were overseas students. Only 14.3% of residents were born in Australia, while 24.9% were born in China.  Other places of birth included Malaysia 8.3%, India 6.2%, Indonesia 4.5% and South Korea 4.0%. Only English was spoken at home by 21.7% of residents, while 30.8% spoke Mandarin. Most of these overseas born are students, with 57.3% of residents attending a tertiary educational institution, and 54.3% of residents aged between 20–29.
  In common with Australian capital cities generally, especially Melbourne and Sydney, there has been remarkable growth in the CBD in the last 10 years to 2017. Residential units, population, jobs and visitation have all increased markedly, changing the city centre from a primarily business or work oriented hub, to a mixed business and residential district. Prior to the 2010s, Australian CBD's were generally places workers would commute to from the suburbs and served little purpose beyond employment and shopping opportunity.
  In this period, many sometimes very tall towers of small one and two bedroom apartments and studio-style student housing (with no carparks) have been built, greatly increasing the resident population of the CBD, including students. Many older buildings have been converted to loft-style apartments, and there are some older apartment buildings with larger more spacious units, with a relatively small amount of luxury housing. There are few families with young children, with only 3.1% of residents under the age of 14, and equally small numbers of over 50, so most residents are students or young professionals, .
caption: A population boom in the CBD in the 2010s led to the construction of many apartment towers, such as 568 Collins Street
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