The ‘red wall’ of suburbs with declining populations stretches from St Kilda and Elwood, up through Prahran, Windsor and South Yarra, all the way north to Kew and Camberwell. | By rachael_dexter and CraigDButt
Melburnians who fled lockdowns and were away on census night, contributed to a population decline in dozens of suburbs.But student suburbs concentrated around the CBD and university precincts had the biggest drops in population.On census night, in August last year, St Kilda resident Rebecca was 1600 kilometres from home.
When plotted on a map, the suburbs with population declines form a “red wall” across Melbourne’s inner-east and south. Matthew Deacon, principal demographer at Demographic Solutions, said “the declining populations were unusual in the context of the significant urban redevelopment that has been happening in Melbourne for the last 25 to 30 years”.“[Usually] more dwellings equals more households equals more population,” he said.
“Fewer overseas students, fewer young backpackers, fewer persons from the country and interstate and fewer business migrants. [These are] very fashionable places for temporary high-income types,” he said.Overseas students and backpackers were more likely to be responsible for population decline in the Prahran-Windsor end of the “red wall”, he said, while drops in Kew were more likely attributed to a dearth of business migrants and families heading to their holiday homes.
In the northern pocket of Mill Park, the population dropped 2 per cent between 2016 and 2021, while in the southern areas of the suburb the population declined 5.5 per cent. Port Phillip mayor Marcus Pearl, whose council area takes in Elwood and St Kilda, said while many residents in those areas left during lockdowns for respite from the city, the ground had shifted again in the 11 months since census night.
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