Data hub · Updated May 2026

Australian GP Statistics 2026 — 8,081 practices, mapped.

National GP density: 29.7 per 100,000 residents. Northern Territory leads at 50.0 (56% above national average) on the strength of federally-funded remote and Aboriginal Health Services. ACT trails at 26.0.

First-party directory built from Geoscience Australia's National Health Services data (CC BY 4.0). Density figures computed using ABS Estimated Resident Population, June 2024 release. Every figure on this page is open and citable.

J By Jarrod, Editor · Compiled 17 May 2026 · 8,081 practices, 53 cities, 2,806 suburbs

GP density by state — Northern Territory leads

Once you factor in state populations, the Northern Territory has dramatically more GP practices per capita than the rest of Australia. This is not driven by private-market dynamics; it reflects the federally-funded remote and Aboriginal Health Services that operate on a per-population basis in a state with extreme geographic isolation.

Service-type breakdown

Each practice carries one or more service tags from the source dataset. General practice and family practice dominate; specialist niches (skin cancer, women's health, nurse-led, after-hours) are much smaller.

Top cities by practice count

Capital cities dominate, but "regional Queensland" alone outranks every Australian city other than Melbourne, Sydney and Perth — reflecting Queensland's geographically distributed population across multiple coastal centres rather than a single concentrated capital.

Busiest suburbs by GP count

The two CBD postcodes top the list, but the most striking finding is the dominance of Western Sydney in the top 15. Bankstown, Liverpool, Fairfield, Blacktown, and Werribee in Melbourne's outer west all hold 20+ practices — reflecting both population density and the historical concentration of bulk-billing-heavy clinics in lower-income metropolitan local government areas.

Aboriginal Health Services — 4.8% of the directory

387 of the 8,081 practices in the GPScout directory are tagged as Aboriginal Health Services — one of the largest specialist groupings in the dataset. This includes services affiliated with the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), state-level Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (e.g. AMSANT in NT, AHCSA in SA), and other community-controlled clinics serving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Geographic distribution skews heavily to NT and WA in absolute density terms. The NT's 128 total practices include a substantial AHS share, partially explaining why NT's overall GP-per-100k is 56% above national average — much of that density is community-controlled primary care funded under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, not market-driven private practice.

Methodology and data sources

Every figure on this page is computed from the GPScout directory, itself compiled from:

• Geoscience Australia National Health Services dataset — primary source for practice locations, addresses, geolocations, and service-type tags. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Geoscience Australia sources from state and territory health authority registers and primary health network data feeds.
• Australian Bureau of Statistics — Estimated Resident Population (ERP), June 2024 release, used for per-100,000 density calculations. abs.gov.au. National total: 27.2 million.

All density figures are computed as (practices ÷ state population) × 100,000, rounded to one decimal. Per-state populations are rounded to the nearest 1,000 for display; raw ABS figures used for calculation. Cities are grouped per the source dataset's city_slug field — Greater Capital City Statistical Areas map approximately to "Sydney", "Melbourne", etc., with "Regional [State]" as the catch-all for non-metro areas.

What this data does not measure

• Bulk-billing rates. Only 4 of 8,081 practices carry the bulk-billing tag, but this reflects source-dataset coverage gaps — not actual rates. National bulk-billing rates run 70–85% of GP attendances per Services Australia Medicare statistics, varying by state and demographic.
• After-hours availability. Only 33 practices are tagged; real after-hours coverage is substantially higher across the network, particularly through after-hours deputising services, urgent care clinics and Medicare Urgent Care Clinics (MUCCs).
• Wait times. Not in the dataset.
• Doctor counts. The directory captures practices, not individual practitioners. A single practice may have anywhere from 1 to 20+ GPs. For practitioner-level counts see AHPRA workforce reports.
• Telehealth-only providers. Practitioners delivering 100% telehealth without a physical clinic are largely absent from the directory.

Refresh cadence

The underlying Geoscience Australia dataset refreshes quarterly; GPScout re-ingests on the same cadence. This statistics page is regenerated on each refresh; the "Compiled" date in the byline above tracks the most recent figures.

Frequently asked questions

How many general practices are in Australia?

8,081 currently-operating clinics in the GPScout directory as of May 2026, across 53 cities and 2,806 suburbs. NSW leads (2,482), followed by VIC (2,224), QLD (1,644), WA (835), SA (496), TAS (150), NT (128), ACT (122).

What is the GP density per capita in Australia?

National average: 29.7 practices per 100,000 residents. NT leads at 50.0 (56% above average); VIC second at 31.6. ACT lowest at 26.0. Computed against ABS ERP June 2024.

How many Aboriginal Health Services are there?

387 practices in the directory are tagged as Aboriginal Health Services — 4.8% of the national total. Disproportionately concentrated in NT and remote WA. Includes both NACCHO-affiliated services and other community-controlled clinics.

Why are so few practices listed as bulk-billing?

Only 4 of 8,081 practices (0.05%) carry the bulk-billing tag — but this is a data-completeness gap, not the actual rate of bulk-billing in Australian general practice. Real bulk-billing rates run 70–85% of GP attendances per Medicare statistics. The Geoscience Australia source dataset doesn't comprehensively capture billing practices.

Where is Australia's busiest GP postcode?

Sydney CBD (postcode 2000) tops the list with 30 practices, followed by Melbourne CBD (28). Western Sydney suburbs dominate the rest of the top 15 — Bankstown (26), Liverpool (24), Fairfield (22), Blacktown (20).

Where does GPScout's data come from?

Geoscience Australia's National Health Services dataset (CC BY 4.0). Density figures use ABS Estimated Resident Population, June 2024 release. Both are open-data sources; our re-publication is free and citable.

For journalists and researchers

Related

• Find a GP near you — the full searchable directory
• By state: NSW · VIC · QLD · WA · SA · TAS · ACT · NT
• By service — Aboriginal Health Services, after-hours, women's health, skin cancer, walk-in
• About GPScout — methodology, sources, ownership