The Popularity of Wikipedia in Australia
Wikipedia is the 6th most visited website in Australia, so when you search for anything online it's often the top result.
But Australians don't just read Wikipedia, they're actively contributing to it too.
Number of Wikipedia editors in Australia
Anyone can edit Wikipedia, and we even have some training videos and resources to help get you started.
Some people edit occasionally, while others make hundreds of edits each month!
The Wikimedia Foundation collect statistics on the number of active editors on Wikipedia and split them into two groups.
- Editors who made between 5-99 edits in a month
- Editors who made 100 or more edits in a month
In both cases, the top five most active countries are USA, UK, India, Canada, and Australia.
Since January 2015, Australians have consistently been the fifth most active Wikipedia editors in the world making 5-99 edits per month, with a few exceptions. In August 2018, May 2019, and June 2019 Australians were the fourth most active.
Between January 2015 and June 2023, there was an average of 2,417 editors in Australia making between 5-99 edits in a month.
The highest number was in May 2019 with 3,400 editors, and the lowest was in December 2022 with 1,790.
In the same period, there was an average of 239 editors in Australia making 100 or more edits in a month.
The highest number for this group was most recently 270 editors in August 2021, and the lowest was in February 2023 with 190. Note: These numbers are rounded.
Comparing the number of editors worldwide
Overall, there is a downwards trend for the number of editors on English Wikipedia worldwide, as seen by comparing the top five most active Wikipedia editing countries.
Comparing this to a countries populations shows generally 0.01% of each country is editing English Wikipedia each month.
In 2022 Australia recorded a population of 25,978,935 people according to The World Bank Group, and in December 2022 there were 1,790 people in Australia editing Wikipedia, representing 0.01% of the total population at the time.
Denmark had 160 editors in December 2022 and were the 38th most active. But they had the highest percentage of their population editing Wikipedia, with 0.22% of the country contributing.
Is the number of Wikipedia editors dropping?
Since Wikipedia was launched in 2001, the number of editors making five or more edits in a given month grew each year until they peaked at 63,806 in March 2007.
The number tends to rise and fall across each year, and dropped to 33,313 editors in September 2013, but rose again, and most recently reached 41,329 in March 2023.
Interestingly, there seems to be a peak of activity each March, and a low around June.
March has been the most active time of year for editors on English Wikipedia since 2014, except 2020 when the peak came in May.
In Australia, the lowest activity is always December, with the peak for editors making between 5-99 edits in a given month occurring in April or May since 2019.
Unfortunately, country specific data isn't available prior to 2018 so it's difficult to make further comparisons.
Ways to contribute to Wikipedia
People are joining Wikipedia all of the time, and just as new pages get added there are so many more needing improvement or updating.
If you're new to Wikipedia or want to learn how to contribute, you can attend one of our free events.
We also have training videos and resources to help get you started right now.
If you need help along the way, the Help page on Wikipedia has several useful tips and additional resources, such as a Teahouse for asking questions and a chatroom for live help.