Melbourne has become Australia's biggest-growing city and is set to overtake Sydney as the country's biggest city in 2056, according to the latest Bureau of Statistics projections.

And Victoria has overtaken Western Australia to become Australia's fastest-growing state.

More than 95,000 Australians moved to Melbourne in the year to December, new figures show.

New figures from the bureau show Victoria gained an extra 101,500 residents in the year to December, and Melbourne an extra 95,600. At 1.8 per cent, Victoria's growth rate surpassed Western Australia's 1.6 per cent and the 1.4 per cent recorded in NSW and Queensland, which was the Australian average. South Australia grew 0.9 per cent, Tasmania 0.3 per cent, the Northern Territory 0.4 per cent and the Australian Capital Territory 1.1 per cent.

Melbourne's gain allowed it to further narrow the population gap with Sydney, whose population climbed 84,200. Bureau of Statistics projections have Melbourne overtaking Sydney to become Australia's biggest city in 2056. In December greater Melbourne housed 4.4 million residents and the bureau says this population will almost double to 8.2 million by 2056.