SOUTH AUSTRALIA


Total population

Age and sex distribution

Median age

Children (under 15 years of age)

Working age population (aged 15-64 years)

People aged 65 years and over

Sex ratio


TOTAL POPULATION

At 30 June 2010, the estimated resident population of South Australia (SA) was 1.64 million.

Almost three-quarters (73.2%) of the state's population resided in Adelaide Statistical Division (SD) in June 2010. The population of each SD in SA grew in the five years to June 2010. Outer Adelaide was the fastest growing SD in these five years, increasing by 2.0% per year on average. This exceeded the average annual growth rate for the state (1.2%). Apart from Adelaide SD, which recorded the same growth rate (1.2%), all other SDs in SA had an average annual growth rate at or below 1.0%.

References to Local Government Areas (LGAs) in this summary exclude those with population of less than 2,000 in June 2010.

AGE AND SEX DISTRIBUTION

The age distribution of the population of Adelaide SD and the remainder of the state varies most in the younger population. For the most part, Adelaide SD had a lower proportion of its population aged under 18 years and a higher proportion aged 18 to 40 years as compared to the remainder of the state at June 2010. This is indicative of young adults moving to the capital city for employment or education purposes.

The difference between the age distributions for Adelaide SD and the remainder of SA in 2010 was most evident for people aged 20 to 24 years, for both males and females. For this age group, females comprised 3.8% of the Adelaide SD population compared with 2.5% in the rest of the state, while males comprised 3.9% of the capital city compared with 2.8% in the remainder of the state.

The population of Adelaide SD was 2.7 times greater than that of the remainder of the state. The population aged 20 to 24 years in the capital city was 4.0 times greater than that of the remainder of the state.

MEDIAN AGE

At June 2010, SA had a median age (the age at which half the population is older and half is younger) of 39.2 years. This was the second highest of all states and territories (behind Tasmania at 39.9 years). The median age of females (40.2 years) in SA was higher than males (38.1 years) at June 2010.

The coastal LGA of Victor Harbor (C), a popular retirement destination, had the highest median age in SA at 54.6 years. This was followed by Yorke Peninsula (DC) (51.4 years), Yankalilla (DC) (49.5) and Tumby Bay (DC) (48.9). These LGAs are all located on the SA coast and had median ages among the eight highest in Australia. The median age for Anangu Pitjantjatjara (AC) (29.1 years) was the lowest of all South Australian LGAs, followed by Roxby Downs (M) (30.5), Adelaide (C) (31.0) and Playford (C) (34.0).

In the five years to 2010, the median age of Adelaide (C) decreased by 1.5 years to 31.0 years. This was the largest decrease of all LGAs in SA. In contrast, the largest increase in median age over this period was recorded for Kingston (DC), which increased by 5.6 years to 48.3 years.

CHILDREN (UNDER 15 YEARS OF AGE)

At June 2010, there were 293,200 people aged 0 to 14 years, which was 17.8% of the state's population. The LGAs with the largest proportion of children were Anangu Pitjantjatjara (AC) (25.1%), Roxby Downs (M) (24.0%), Ceduna (DC) (23.1%), Playford (C) (22.7%) and Light (RegC) (22.5%). More than one-third (34.5%) of LGAs in SA had 20.0% or more of their population aged less than 15 years. Of these, Playford (C) was the only LGA within Adelaide SD.

WORKING AGE POPULATION (AGED 15-64 YEARS)

Two-thirds of SA's population (or 1.09 million people) were aged between 15 and 64 years in June 2010. The LGA with the highest proportion of it's population of working age was inner-city Adelaide (C) (84.3%), followed by Roxby Downs (M) (74.8%), Prospect (C) (70.4%), Unley (C) (69.7%) and Anangu Pitjantjatjara (AC) (69.4%). The proportion of people aged 15 to 64 years in Roxby Downs (M) increased 4.0 percentage points in the five years to June 2010, which was the largest increase of all LGAs in SA over this period.

PEOPLE AGED 65 YEARS AND OVER

SA had 257,000 people aged 65 years or over in June 2010, representing 15.6% of the state's population. The LGAs with the highest proportions of their populations aged 65 years or above were all located along the South Australian coast and outside of Adelaide SD. Victor Harbor (C) had the highest proportion with 32.5%, followed by Yorke Peninsula (DC) (26.5%), Tumby Bay (DC) (24.6%), Yankalilla (DC) (24.2%) and Copper Coast (DC) (23.5%). These proportions have all increased since five years earlier.

SEX RATIO

At June 2010, the sex ratio (the number of males per 100 females) of SA was 97.7, with 812,500 males and 832,100 females. This was the second lowest ratio of males per 100 females of all states and territories behind Tasmania (97.3).

The LGA in SA with the highest sex ratio was the mining town of Roxby Downs (M) (138.4), which was also among the highest in Australia. This was followed by Lower Eyre Peninsula (DC) (116.5), Mid Murray (DC) (116.4), Streaky Bay (DC) (112.6) and Grant (DC) (110.6).

Unley (C) (87.9), Burnside (C) (88.9), Holdfast Bay (C) (89.3), Walkerville (M) (90.4) and Norwood Payneham St Peters (C) (90.5) had the lowest sex ratios in SA and were among the ten lowest in the country. These LGAs are all located in the capital city SD and with the exception of Holdfast Bay (C), all border the Adelaide (C) LGA.