page_title: Townsville
section_title: Demographics
hierarchical_section_title: Townsville / Demographics
caption_attribution_description: English: Flinders street at night
context_page_description: Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. Townsville is Australia's largest urban centre north of the Sunshine Coast, with a population of 180,820 as of June 2018. Considered the unofficial capital of North Queensland by locals, Townsville hosts a significant number of governmental, community and major business administrative offices for the northern half of the state. It is in the dry tropics region of Queensland, adjacent to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef. The city is also a major industrial centre, home to one of the world's largest zinc refineries, a nickel refinery and many other similar activities. The Port of Townsville is also being expanded to allow much larger cargo ships from Asia and the world's largest passenger ships to visit. It is an increasingly important port due to its proximity to Asia and major trading partners such as China.
context_section_description: Townsville has a younger population than the Australian and Queensland averages. The city has traditionally experienced a high turnover of people, with the army base and government services bringing in many short to medium term workers. The region has also become popular with mine workers on fly in/fly out contracts. In 2005–06, the Townsville Statistical District grew at just over 3 per cent and was the fifth-fastest-growing district or division in Australia. Between 2000 and 2005 the annual average population growth in Townsville was 2.5%, compared with 2.2% for Queensland overall. However, growth has slowed in more recent years with population growth over the 2014–15 period being 1%, compared with the state average of 1.2%. As of 2018 growth is picking up again in part due to new infrastructure and industrial projects. Townsville's urban population was 180,820 in June 2018, having grown at an average annual rate of 0.82% year-on-year over the preceding five years.
caption: Flinders Street
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