The Northern Territory is a self governing territory of Australia. It has a population of 232,605 as of the 2021 Australian census^[1] and occupies an area of 1,334,404 square kilometres (515,216 sq mi).^[2] Official population statistics are published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which conducts a census every five years. The most recent census for which data has been released is the 2021 census.^[3]

Urban centres and localities by population[edit]

SA1's are areas that subdivide all of Australia, and have a population between 200 and 800 people and an average population size of 400.^[4] Urban centres and localities are defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics to be clusters of urban SA1's. Clusters with a population higher than 1,000 are considered urban centres and clusters with a population between 200 and 999 are considered localities.^[5]

Rank	Urban centre	Population
		2011 census	Ref.	2016 census	Ref.	2021 census	Ref.
1	Darwin	103,016	[1]	118,456	[2]	122,207	[3]
2	Alice Springs	24,208	[4]	23,726	[5]	24,855	[6]
3	Katherine	6,094	[7]	6,303	[8]	5,980	[9]
4	Nhulunbuy	3,933	[10]	3,088	[11]	3,267	[12]
5	Tennant Creek	3,062	[13]	2,991	[14]	2,949	[15]
6	Galiwinku	2,124	[16]	2,088	[17]	2,199	[18]
7	Wadeye	2,112	[19]	2,280	[20]	1,924	[21]
8	Wurrumiyanga (Nguiu)	1,527	[22]	1,563	[23]	1,421	[24]
9	Gunbalanya (Oenpelli)	1,171	[25]	1,117	[26]	1,153	[27]
10	Milingimbi	1,081	[28]	1,225	[29]	1,097	[30]
11	Ngukurr	1,056	[31]	1,149	[32]	1,088	[33]
12	Angurugu	835	[34]	855	[35]	883	[36]
13	Yulara	888	[37]	759	[38]	853	[39]
14	Ramingining	833	[40]	872	[41]	814	[42]
15	Jabiru	1,129	[43]	1,081	[44]	755	[45]
16	Borroloola	926	[46]	871	[47]	755	[48]
17	Alyangula	986	[49]	873	[50]	751	[51]
18	Yuendumu	687	[52]	759	[53]	740	[54]
19	Gapuwiyak	874	[55]	923	[56]	705	[57]
20	Humpty Doo	569	[58]	678	[59]	660	[60]
21	Yirrkala	843	[61]	809	[62]	657	[63]
22	Lajamanu	656	[64]	598	[65]	653	[66]
23	Minyerri	—		618	[67]	650	[68]
24	Santa Teresa (Ltyentye Purte)	555	[69]	580	[70]	603	[71]
25	Daguragu – Kalkarindji	542	[72]	575	[73]	575	[74]
26	Howard Springs	612	[75]	595	[76]	569	[77]
27	Hermannsburg	625	[78]	605	[79]	551	[80]
28	Wugular (Beswick)	511	[81]	531	[82]	542	[83]
29	Ampilatwatja	365	[84]	418	[85]	439	[86]
30	Papunya	418	[87]	404	[88]	438	[89]
31	Warruwi	423	[90]	389	[91]	432	[92]
32	Ilparpa	433	[93]	360	[94]	424	[95]
33	Wagait Beach – Mandorah	368	[96]	461	[97]	422	[98]
34	Walungurru (Kintore)	454	[99]	410	[100]	420	[101]
35	Umbakumba	441	[102]	503	[103]	419	[104]
36	Milikapiti	447	[105]	401	[106]	414	[107]
37	Ali Curung	535	[108]	494	[109]	394	[110]
38	Kaltukatjara (Docker River)	295	[111]	394	[112]	394	[113]
39	Batchelor	336	[114]	466	[115]	371	[116]
40	Nganmarriyanga (Palumpa)	377	[117]	390	[118]	364	[119]
41	Alpurrurulam	441	[120]	420	[121]	350	[122]
42	Nauiyu Nambiyu (Daly River)	454	[123]	378	[124]	350	[125]
43	Barunga	313	[126]	363	[127]	337	[128]
44	Mataranka	244	[129]	310	[130]	327	[131]
45	Pine Creek	380	[132]	328	[133]	318	[134]
46	Pirlangimpi	371	[135]	371	[136]	317	[137]
47	Mutitjulu	210	[138]	323	[139]	296	[140]
48	Elliot	348	[141]	339	[142]	287	[143]
49	Yarralin	266	[144]	293	[145]	283	[146]
50	Timber Creek	—		249	[147]	278	[148]
51	Minjilang	309	[149]	247	[150]	265	[151]
52	Jilkminggan	280	[152]	301	[153]	263	[154]
53	Bulman – Weemol	291	[155]	280	[156]	263	[157]
54	Nyirripi	210	[158]	236	[159]	251	[160]
55	Adelaide River	237	[161]	265	[162]	243	[163]
56	Gunyangara	—		240	[164]	241	[165]
57	Binjari	238	[166]	190	[167]	240	[168]
58	Areyonga	235	[169]	195	[170]	236	[171]
59	Amoonguna	275	[172]	239	[173]	229	[174]
60	Willowra	221	[175]	301	[176]	222	[177]
61	Atitjere	—		224	[178]	204	[179]
62	Titjikala	201	[180]	227	[181]	196	[182]
63	Aputula (Finke)	—		192	[183]	191	[184]
64	Laramba	251	[185]	239	[186]	189	[187]
65	Robinson River (Mungoorbada)	258	[188]	222	[189]	180	[190]
66	Yuelamu	207	[191]	220	[192]	149	[193]
67	Canteen Creek	217	[194]	184	[195]	147	[196]
68	Wutunugurra	207	[197]	166	[198]	143	[199]

Local government areas by population[edit]

The Northern Territory is divided into 17 local government areas plus several unincorporated areas.^[6]

Rank	Local government area	Population
		2011 census	Ref.	2016 census	Ref.	2021 census	Ref.
1	City of Darwin	72,930	[200]	78,804	[201]	80,530	[202]
2	City of Palmerston	27,703	[203]	33,786	[204]	37,247	[205]
3	Town of Alice Springs	25,186	[206]	24,753	[207]	25,912	[208]
4	Litchfield Municipality	18,994	[209]	23,855	[210]	21,411	[211]
5	Town of Katherine	9,187	[212]	9,717	[213]	9,643	[214]
6	East Arnhem Region	9,098	[215]	9,026	[216]	8,778	[217]
*	Unincorporated areas	8,089	[218]	6,907	[219]	6,802	[220]
7	Roper Gulf Region	6,121	[221]	6,505	[222]	6,486	[223]
8	Barkly Region	6,823	[224]	6,655	[225]	6,316	[226]
9	West Arnhem Region	6,232	[227]	6,188	[228]	6,281	[229]
10	MacDonnell Region	5,831	[230]	6,029	[231]	5,748	[232]
11	Central Desert Region	3,720	[233]	3,677	[234]	3,591	[235]
12	West Daly Region[a]	—		3,166	[236]	2,973	[237]
13	Victoria Daly Region[a]	5,924	[238]	2,810	[239]	2,815	[240]
14	Tiwi Islands Region	2,580	[241]	2,453	[242]	2,348	[243]
15	Coomalie Shire	1,106	[244]	1,319	[245]	1,276	[246]
16	Wagait Shire	369	[247]	463	[248]	423	[249]
*	Darwin Waterfront Precinct[b]	—		—		293	[250]
17	Belyuen Shire	181	[251]	164	[252]	149	[253]

See also[edit]

• List of cities in Australia by population
• List of places in New South Wales by population
• List of places in Queensland by population
• List of places in South Australia by population
• List of places in Tasmania by population
• List of places in Victoria by population
• List of places in Western Australia by population

Notes[edit]

References[edit]