Measures of Population Ageing in Australia from 1950 to 2050

This study utilises annual historic and forecasted population figures from the UN World Population Prospects (2015 Revision) to describe Australia’s population changes for the period 1950–2050. A number of population indices have been employed to describe these changes. Specifically, we constructed population pyramids and computed measures including economic dependency ratios, support ratios, ageing/Billeter indices and coefficients of inflow, outflow and exchange of productive populations. Our results suggest that a combination of factors including declining fertility and mortality have contributed to Australia’s ageing population. The implications of these changes are broad and raise major challenges for Australia’s economy and infrastructure. To tackle both the drivers and impacts of population ageing, multi-faceted approaches are needed together with prompt evaluation to ensure that current and future challenges posed by population changes in Australia are fully contained.