Population in Australia: Aussies becoming older

Population in Australia: Aussies becoming older

Australias population lives healthy, becomes older and stays married longer
By: Oliver Koester
January 30, 2006
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THE AUSTRALIAN 2006 Year Book, pubished by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), shows that the Australian population ages and also thinks more about the environment.

Environment protection has become one of the major issues within the last years in Australia. Almost 98 per cent of people dispose their bottles, tins and milk cartons in the coloured-coded wheelie bins regulary. Nearly three-quarters of Australians have installed dual-flush toilets, approximately every second household has water-saving showers and 16 per cent are recycling or reusing water.

In contrary to these efforts are the Australien reliance on cars for traveling the long stretches across the wide brown land and coal for power. australia is in number two position, behind the United States, for greenhouse gas production per person due to these factors. More than 17 million tonnes of carbon dioxide is emitted every year for every Australian.

According to a special report of the CSIRO, a climate change is inevitable which means that Australian deserts are on the move. The CSIRO predicts that by 2070 the southern boundary of the Australian desert will shift by up to 200km and the northern boundary by 50km. But as the sands of time creep on, Australians are living longer and having fewer babies.

Life expectancy has improved by six years for males, to 78 years, and by four years for females, to 83 years. And just over one-in-eight people is now aged 65 or older - up from one in 12 people 50 years ago.

At the same time our fertility rate has fallen to 1.8 children and long-term trends indicate that fertility has declined from a peak of 3.6 babies per woman in 1961 and has been below replacement level (2.1 babies per woman) since 1976. But a rise in immigration could help Australia's population hit 31 million people by the middle of this century, the ABS forecasts.

Marriages are lasting longer, on average 12.2 years before divorce compared to 10.7 years a decade ago, and Australians are marrying later in life, at age 31 for men and 29 for women.

How we spend our time is also changing. When they are relaxing at home they are surfing the internet, with 1.8 million now using high-speed broadband connections. Their family's budget - now an average $1,128 a week - is mainly going to food (17.3 per cent), transport (15.8 per cent), housing (15.3 per cent) and fun (12.8 per cent).

And families are on the move north. The proportion of people living in NSW and Victoria has fallen over the past 50 years, with families taking up digs in Queensland and Western Australia. Brisbane is the fastest growing capital in the country with an average growth of 2.2 per cent a year over the past five years.


Resource: Nine MSN - January 20, 2006