FAQ

Children are defined as aged 0 to 12 years. This covers the pre-school and primary school education years.

A family is two or more persons, who are related by blood, marriage (registered or de facto), adoption, step or fostering, and who are usually resident in the same household. Additionally, Council recognises the diversity of family arrangements in its widest sense including, same-sex, LGBTQI+ partners and children born under surrogacy arrangements.

• The North Sydney resident population in 2016, was 72,037 (ABS adjusted), having grown 7.9% or by 5,290 from 2011, and is forecast to grow to over 85,000 people by 2036.

• North Sydney has higher proportions of people aged 25 to 49 years, who are parents now or potentially in the near future. They have less children than the rest of NSW, contributing to the household size (ie. persons per dwelling) being 1.99 compared to 2.61 for NSW.

• Women of North Sydney have their children at an older age, with 43.0% of women giving birth aged 35 years and over.

• The typical new parent in North Sydney is likely to be part of a couple who are starting families past the age of 30 years. They are delaying parenthood in order to study, establish careers, provide stability around accommodation and pursue aspirations.

• Numbers of children aged 0 to 4 years has increased by 492 between 2011 and 2016 from 3,354 to 3,846 and those aged 5-11 years have increased by 895 between 2011 and 2016 from 2,667 to 3,562.

• Due to the above factors, there will be an expected demand for childcare, Early Childhood Health services, assessment service for children, and, over time, Primary School and Before and After School Care places to cater for growing families and those who move into the area.

• 89.2% of North Sydney dwellings are medium or high density, compared to 33% in New South Wales.

• Families are prepared to live in apartments to take advantage of proximity to schools, work, transport and amenities. Of all the Local Government Areas in Australia, North Sydney ranks 9th at 11.4%, in terms of the highest concentrations of children living in apartments.

• 43% of households were purchasing or fully owned their home, 47.4% were renting (mostly privately) and 1.6% were in social housing in 2016.

• In 2016, 23% of people in North Sydney Council area, came from countries where English was not their first language.

• 7,128 or 28% of North Sydney’s new arrivals born overseas came to Australia between 2011 to 9 August 2016!

• North Sydney’s newest and fastest growing non-English speaking background arrivals are from China, India and the Philippines (consistent with Australia’s general CALD immigration numbers). Other migrant groups come from Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand and Korea. Migrants from English speaking countries in high numbers include those from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, South Africa, the United States of America and Ireland.