Data compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows the current Australian population heading towards 23 million (jn fact it is 22,699,750 at the time of writing).

The most populous state ? New South Wales (with 7.27 million people), followed by Victoria (5.58 million), then Queensland (4.45 million).

The median age of an Australian is 36.9 (up from 32.1 just 10 years ago) and all states and Territories over the past 12 months have had positive population growth. Western Australia had the most (with 2.1%) and Northern Territory the least (0.8%).

 But here’s the interesting stuff…

The proportion of our population over the age of 65 is currently 13.5% (about 3 million Australians) (up from 11.1% (about 1.9 million Australians) in 1990).

And on top of that, whilst the proportion of our older people has been increasing, the percentage of our younger people has actually been decreasing ! The three graphs below show how our age mix has changed since 1971 and where we’re headed over the next 30 years.

 

Another illustration is here (note how few people over the age of 80 there were in 1925 compared to now):

 

Here’s how our position in Australia compares with other major countries: 

Data for all graphs sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics unless where indicated otherwise.

So here’s the thing………   with more older Australians requiring the age pension, aged care and medical care; and with proportionally fewer people of working age to pay for this (via their income taxes), how does a government (a) pay for it, while (b) maintaining the quality of service while, (c) not getting the country into debt difficulties ?

Well, they can (and have over the past decades), done things like introduce compulsory super (to help us fund for our own retirement needs), have raised the age pension for females from age 60 to 65 (to be consistent with males) and to further raise the age pension age from 65 to 67 (which will happen gradually over the next decade and a half)

[and watch this space, we reckon there’s more of this to come…], raise the thresholds so fewer people qualify for government support benefits (thereby decreasing pressure on the public purse) [and watch this space, we reckon there’s more of this to come too…]. All these things will help but they will not solve the problem.

The message here is that there are immense pressures on our Government (indeed, all Governments) to pay for the living and medical needs of an increasingly ageing population. If we as individuals, want to maintain a lifestyle better than what the age pension will buy us (the age pension is currently $26,300 pa for a married couple), then we must start taking control for ourselves.  It’s no good doing nothing now and then later complaining to a cash strapped government for more.

To take control, we need to plan. We need to map out where we want to be and how we plan to get there. And ask for advice. There are lots of rules in the super and investment landscape. Having someone in your corner to tell you how to take advantage of them (i.e. how to pay less tax, how to achieve better long term investment returns, how to maximise income from existing assets, how to lower your fees, how to maximise Centrelink entitlements etc.) is invaluable.

Take control. Get some advice. Make a plan.