POPULATION BY AGE AND SEX FOR REGIONS OF AUSTRALIA


What data is available?
Age and sex distribution
At the Regional Level
Did you know?
How can I find out more?


The 2009 issue of Population by Age and Sex, Regions of Australia (cat. no. 3235.0) was published on 5 August 2010.

What data is available?

This release contains the latest available estimates of Australia's resident population by age (in five-year age groups up to 85 and over) and sex as at 30 June 2004 and 30 June 2009. Estimates are provided for Local Government Areas (LGAs), Statistical Local Areas (SLAs), Statistical Divisions (SDs), Statistical Subdivisions (SSDs) and states and territories of Australia. Data can be downloaded from the ABS website in an Excel spreadsheet or SuperTABLE, allowing users to conduct analysis at the geographic level of their interest.

The Main Features provides an overview of the key findings of the product including age and sex distribution, sex ratio, median age and significant age brackets (children, working age, 65 and above). More detailed regional coverage is available in state/territory specific commentaries. Data interpretation is aided through the use of population pyramids, graphs and maps.

What does the data show?

AGE AND SEX DISTRIBUTION

Australia's population at 30 June 2009 was characterised by a larger proportion of both males and females aged 20-44 years living in capital cities compared to the rest of the country. This reflects a pattern of people in these age groups moving to capital cities to pursue education, work and other opportunities. This trend was reversed in the remaining age brackets with higher proportions of people aged below 20 and above 44 years in regional areas.

The sex ratio (number of males per 100 females) was 99.2 at June 2009, which equated to 91,900 more females than males. The longer life expectancy of females was evident in the lower sex ratio of older age groups; for people aged 80-84 the sex ratio was 74.1 and for people aged 85 and older it was 51.9.



The median age of Australians (the age at which half the population is older and half is younger) increased from 36.3 years in 2004 to 36.8 years in 2009, indicative of an ageing population. This trend was also identifiable in specific age brackets; the proportion of children (under 15 years of age) in the total population declined between 2004 and 2009, while the proportion of people aged 65 years and over increased. These changes were consistent across all states and territories. The proportion of the working age population (15-64 years) increased marginally over the five-year period.



AT THE REGIONAL LEVEL

Median age

In all states of Australia the inner-city LGA (or inner-city SLA in the case of Brisbane, Hobart and Darwin) of the capital city had a lower median age than the total capital city SD, which also had a lower median age than the remainder of the state. Only in the Northern Territory was this pattern reversed.



Higher median ages were associated with popular coastal retirement LGAs such as Victor Harbor (C) and Yorke Peninsula (DC) in South Australia, Queenscliffe (B) in Victoria, Glamorgan/Spring Bay (M) in Tasmania and Great Lakes (A) in New South Wales, which all had median ages of 50 years or older.

Some inland regional areas with high median ages were Strathbogie (S) and Yarriambiack (S) in Victoria, Mid Murray (DC) in South Australia and Gloucester (A) in New South Wales.

Distribution of children (under 15 years of age)

The LGAs with the highest proportions of children were located in regional northern Australia and all contained significant Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander populations. Yarrabah (S), Northern Peninsula Area (R), Torres Strait Island (R), Torres (S) and Palm Island (S) in Queensland and Victoria-Daly (S), Roper Gulf (S) and East Arnhem (S) in the Northern Territory contained proportions of children above 30%.

The lowest proportions of children were all within inner-city LGAs; Adelaide (C), Perth (C), Melbourne (C) and Sydney (C) were all below 8%. Within capital city SDs the highest proportions of children were found in outer suburban growth areas such as Camden (A) and Blacktown (C) in New South Wales, Melton (S) and Wyndham (C) in Victoria and Playford (C) and Salisbury (C) in South Australia.

Distribution of working age population (aged 15-64 years)

The four LGAs with the lowest proportions of children (Melbourne (C), Perth (C), Sydney (C) and Adelaide (C)) also had the highest proportions of working aged population, all over 84%, reflecting the high incidence of tertiary students and working professionals residing in inner-city areas.

All of the remaining LGAs with proportions of working age population over 75% were located in capital city SDs. These were North Sydney (A), Leichhardt (A) and Marrickville (A) in Sydney, Port Phillip (C) and Yarra (C) in Melbourne and Vincent (T) and Subiaco (C) in Perth.

Many LGAs heavily associated with resource sector activities such as Roxby Downs (M) in South Australia and East Pilbara (S) in Western Australia also contained a high proportion of working age population.



Distribution of people aged 65 years and over

The four LGAs with the highest proportion (over 25%) of people aged 65 years and over were Queenscliffe (B) in Victoria, Victor Harbor (C) and Yorke Peninsula (DC) in South Australia and Great Lakes (A) in New South Wales. These are all coastal regions and popular retirement destinations.

The inland regional LGAs of Hindmarsh (S), Yarriambiack (S) and Central Goldfields (S) in Victoria and Peterborough (DC) in South Australia also contained high proportions of people aged 65 years and over.

Sex Ratio

In every state and territory (except the Northern Territory) the sex ratio was lower in the capital city SD than in the remainder of the state. Perth and Darwin were the only capital cities with more males than females.

In all capital city SDs the sex ratio was lower than in the respective inner-city LGA (or inner-city SLA in the case of Brisbane, Hobart and Darwin) reflecting a higher incidence of males residing in inner-city areas.

The LGAs with the highest sex ratios were associated with resource, agriculture, manufacturing and defence industries. Ravensthorpe (S), East Pilbara (S) and Ashburton (S) in Western Australia, Roxby Downs (M) in South Australia and Walgett (A) in New South Wales all had sex ratios above 130.0. The only capital city LGA with a sex ratio above 130 was Perth (C), which had a sizeable male population employed in the resource sector.




Did you know?

The publication Australian Historical Population Statistics (cat no. 3105.0.65.001) contains historical demographic data on a variety of topics including major population centres (available from 1911) and age-sex structure (five-year age and sex estimates are available from 1861 at state level) .



How can I find out more?

Population by Age and Sex, Regions of Australia, 2009 (cat. no. 3235.0) can be accessed free of charge on the ABS website: www.abs.gov.au

For further information about the statistics in the product, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Tricia Dyson from the Regional Population Unit on (08) 8237 7662.