SOUTH AUSTRALIA


TOTAL POPULATION

The estimated resident population of South Australia at 30 June 2007 was 1.58 million, which was 7.5% of the Australian total.

Almost three quarters (73.1%) of the state's population resided in the Adelaide Statistical Division (SD) in June 2007, a proportion virtually unchanged since June 1996. Outer Adelaide was the fastest-growing SD in the state having grown by 2.0% since 30 June 2006, which was well above the state average of 1.0%. The population of all SDs in South Australia grew over the year, including Northern which had experienced a decline in population in the previous year.

The fastest-growing Local Government Area (LGA) in South Australia between June 2006 and June 2007 was Adelaide (C), which grew by 4.8%. Three of the next four fastest-growing LGAs were on SA's peninsulas: Copper Coast (DC) (2.9%), Victor Harbor (C) and Yankalilla (DC) (both 2.6%), and the other was Grant (DC) (2.6%), which surrounds Mount Gambier (C).

For Local Government Areas and Statistical Local Areas (SLAs), this summary excludes those with populations of less than 2,000 at 30 June 2007.


AGE AND SEX DISTRIBUTION

Compared with the remainder of the state, Adelaide SD had a lower proportion of its population aged under 18 years, a higher proportion aged 18 to 39 years and a lower proportion aged 40 to 76 years at 30 June 2007. This is indicative of young adults moving to the capital city for work and study purposes.

This difference between the age distributions in Adelaide SD and the remainder of SA was evident for both sexes and was most significant for the 20-24 years age group, in which females made up 3.8% of the Adelaide SD population compared with 2.4% in the remainder of the state and males comprised 3.8% of the Adelaide SD population compared with 2.8% in the remainder of the state.

On average there were just under three times as many people residing in the Adelaide SD as in the remainder of the state at the end of June 2007, but there were four times as many people aged 20-24.

MEDIAN AGE

At June 2007 South Australia had the second highest median age (the age at which half the population is older and half is younger) of all states and territories (behind Tasmania) with a median age of 38.9 years.

The LGA of Victor Harbor (C) had the highest median age of all LGAs in Australia at 54.1 years. Next highest in South Australia were Yorke Peninsula (DC) (49.9 years) and Yankalilla (DC) (48.4 years), which were also among the top ten in Australia. The LGA of Anangu Pitjantjatjara (AC) had the lowest median age of 27.6 years in South Australia, followed by Roxby Downs (M) with a median age of 29.6 years.


CHILDREN (UNDER 15 YEARS OF AGE)

As at June 2007, there were 287,400 people aged 0-14 years in South Australia, which was 18.1% of the total population in South Australia. The SLA of Adelaide (C) had the lowest proportion of population aged 0 to 14 years (5.4%) in South Australia (excluding SLAs with less than 2,000 people). A dozen SLAs in South Australia had less than 15% of their population in this age group, most of which were located in a band running from the coast to just north-east of Adelaide (C).

Of LGAs with more than 2,000 people the largest proportions of children were in Roxby Downs (M) (26.5%), Anangu Pitjantjatjara (AC) (26.3%) and Ceduna (DC) (23.4%). In addition to Adelaide (C), the LGAs with the smallest proportions of children were Holdfast Bay (C) (12.2%), Norwood Payneham St Peters (C) (13.5%) and Victor Harbor (C) (13.7%).


WORKING AGE POPULATION (AGED 15-64 YEARS)

At June 2007, 66.6% of South Australia's population were aged 15-64 years.

The LGAs with the highest proportion of their population aged 15-64 years were Adelaide (C) (83.9%), and the mining community of Roxby Downs (M) (73.0%). At the other end of the scale, just over one half of people living in Victor Harbor (C) (54.4%) and Yorke Peninsula (DC) (58.7%) were aged between 15 and 64 years.


PEOPLE AGED 65 YEARS AND OVER

In June 2007, 15.2% of the population in South Australia were aged 65 years or more.

Predominant among the LGAs with the highest proportions of their populations aged 65 years and over were coastal and rural areas such as Victor Harbor (C) (31.9%), Yorke Peninsula (DC) (24.6%), Copper Coast (DC) (22.7%), Tumby Bay (DC) and Yankalilla (DC) (both 22.2%). Within the Adelaide SD Holdfast Bay (C) (21.8%) had the highest proportion of people aged 65 years and over. The SA LGAs with the smallest proportions were Roxby Downs (M) (0.5%) and Anangu Pitjantjatjara (AC) (5.2%).

SEX RATIO

Since 1970, females have outnumbered males in South Australia. At June 2007, the state's sex ratio (the number of males per 100 females) was 97.6, with 782,400 males and 801,800 females.

Of LGAs with more than 2,000 people, the highest ratio of males per 100 females was in Roxby Downs (M) (134.3), followed by Streaky Bay (DC) (115.7). Unley (C) (87.9), Burnside (C) (88.7) and Holdfast Bay (C) (89.3) had the lowest sex ratios in SA.

At June 2007 in South Australia, there were more male children aged from 0 to 14 years (147,000) than female (140,500), leading to a sex ratio of 104.6. There were also more males than females in the working age population (529,000 to 526,700). However, the number of females aged 65 years and over (134,700) was almost 30% higher than the number of males in this age group (106,500). The sex ratio for this age group was 79.0.