National demographic indicators seriesAustralia

National Demographic Indicators Series
Commentary

Australian population dynamics

A lot has been made in Australia in recent years about the challenges presented by an ageing population, through mechanisms such as the inter-generational report. The baby-boomer generation have now mostly reached retirement age and will place considerable weight on Australia’s supportive infrastructure and test our public finances.

The 2021 Census was conducted in the midst of the COVID pandemic, and Australia’s borders were closed, leading to record low population growth. There was a high percentage of working from home in our largest cities, many parts of which were in lockdown. Since COVID, the population growth has bounced back, reflected in strong growth in years after Census, but the characteristics from the Census won’t reflect these until the next Census year.

The children of the “baby bonus” era from 2004-2012 are now teenagers and increasing the enrolment in secondary schools, while at the same time declining birth rates since that time mean dwindling numbers of children in pre-school and primary school.

These demographic indicators present a snapshot of the nation and each LGA at a point in time, and are a useful jumping off point for looking at each area in more detail via .id’s demographic toolkit.


We write regular commentary about population matters in the .id blog.