West Metro

Demographics

Western metropolitan Melbourne is a multi-cultural, rapidly growing region with a total population of 1,113,570 people, or 17 per cent of Victoria’s total population living across the 7 Local Government Areas (LGAs).

All seven LGAs in the west have a higher proportion of people who were born overseas than the Victorian state average of 30% with Wyndham (48%) and Brimbank (48.2%) with the largest populations born overseas of the LGAs outside of Melbourne. Across the West metro area, the top 3 languages spoken in the home other than English are Vietnamese, Mandarin and Punjabi, with 44% speaking a language other than English at home.

In western metropolitan Melbourne, 15,721 incidents of family violence were recorded by police in the year ending 30 June 2023. This represents 16.8% of all incidents in Victoria and is a 9.6% increase of family violence incidents reported by police in the western metropolitan region since 2018.

Since 2019, the rate of family violence incidents has increased in four of seven LGAs, most significantly in Maribyrnong by 25.9%, Wyndham by 23.9% and Melbourne by 16%. Moonee Valley saw an increase of 6.5%, Brimbank saw a decrease of 4%, Melton 2.1% and Hobsons Bay 12.4% .

More LGA specific data can be found through clicking through the maps below.

An image of the West Metro region linking through to LGA-specific populations data 
Click through on the map to find LGA-specific populations data
A map of the West Metro region which links through to LGA-specific family violence data 
Click through on the map to find LGA-specific family violence data
Data card with a line graph icon that says: 10,086 incidents of family violence in Western Melbourne (10.8% of all incidents in Victoria) and 5,653 incidents of family violence in Brimbank Melton (6.07% of all incidents in Victoria) were recorded by
Data card with a line graph icon that says: Crime stats show that family violence incidents accounted for 20.4% of all criminal offences in the West Metro region. Most notably are Melton with 30.3% and Wyndham with 25.1%.
Data card with a line graph icon that says: Since 2019, the rate of family violence incidents has increased in four of seven West Metro LGAs, most significantly in Maribyrnong by 25.9%, Wyndham by 23.9% and Melbourne by 16%.
Data card with a line graph icon that says: 7,626 of 15,721 or 48.5% family violence incidents across the West Metro region are Family Violence Order breaches.
Data card with a line graph icon that says: Crime stats data indicate that the areas in the West Metro region with the highest rates of family violence are Wyndham with 4,496, Brimbank with 2,841, Melton with 2,812, and Melbourne with 2,118 over the
Data card with a line graph icon that says: The Western Metropolitan region is a grown corridor, with an estimated population growth rate of 3.98% in Western Melbourne and Brimbank Melton between 2021 and 2022 - higher that the statewide average 2.1%
Data card with a line graph icon that says: The languages other that English most commonly spoken at home in Western Melbourne are Mandarin, Vietnamese, Punjabi, Arabic and Italian; and in Brimbank Melton are Vietnamese, Punjabi and Tagalog.
Data card with a line graph icon that says: According to crime statistics, 7,973 clients are receiving homelessness services due to family violence across the West Metro area.