1003.0 - LEP Newsletter (Issue No. 46), Nov 2003  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 26/11/2003   
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Just out!

Ageing in Australia

While the total Australian population increased five-fold over the last century, the number of older people increased more than fifteen-fold. The 2001 Census of Population and Housing: Ageing in Australia report (ABS cat. no. 2048.0) shows that older people (aged 65 years and over) comprised 13% of the population in 2001, compared with 4% in 1901.

Some of the many interesting findings are:

  • While 62 per cent of Australia's older people live in family households, the proportion of older people living alone has increased (from 20% in 1971 to 26% in 2001);
  • The proportion of people 65 years and over is greater amongst the overseas-born population (17.7%) than for the Australian-born population (10.9%).
  • One in ten older people reported using a computer and 6% accessed the Internet in the week prior to the 2001 Census, compared with over half of the people aged 15-44 years.

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