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A silver tsunami is on its way and the country’s housing and health care systems are not up to the challenge, says the Retirement Living Council.
The council says new Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data shows that Australia’s mean age rose every year for 20 years and will surpass 40 years for the first time in 12 to 18 months.
Council executive director, Daniel Gannon, says the demographic trend varies across the states.
“The Northern Territory’s mean age increased at twice the rate of the national mean while Tasmania has overseen an almost 11 per cent increase in its mean age,” he says.
“While Queensland is leading the battle for Australia’s retirees along the eastern seaboard with an almost 8 per cent uplift in mean age since 2005, every state and territory has seen an increase in age across the reporting period.”
Gannon points out that this is posing a serious policy challenge.
“There is a silver tsunami rapidly approaching. We don’t have gold-plated housing and healthcare systems to respond to these significant demographic changes,” he says.
“By 2040, the number Australians over 75 will skyrocket from two million to 3.7 million people, bringing with it obvious challenges for age-friendly housing supply, hospital and aged care bed availability.”
Gannon says the healthcare system is already struggling under current demand with not enough homes on the market.
“Combine those factors with a rapidly ageing population and we have triple threat: an ageing population, chronic housing supply deficit and struggling healthcare system.”
The Retirement Living Council is a division of the Property Council of Australia.
“Combine those factors with a rapidly ageing population and we have triple threat: an ageing population, chronic housing supply deficit and struggling healthcare systems,” Gannon says.
He claims that retirement villages are saving the Commonwealth almost $950 million every year and serving as a potential “antidote for the triple threat”.
