How Old Are the Residents of the ACT - 2011 Census Factsheet #3

How old are residents of the ACT?

2011 Census fact sheets Issue #3 July 2012

What is the median age?

For the ACT, the age at which half the population is older and half younger, is 34 years. For Australia, the median age is 37 years. In 2011, Canberra had the second youngest population of any capital city in Australia, after Darwin (33 years), and was much younger than Adelaide or Hobart (both with a median age of 39 years).

How does the ACT’s age structure compare with other capital cities?

The ACT has relatively large proportions of people aged in their 20s, 30s and 40s. People over 55 years are less numerous, with those aged 65 years or more comprising just 10.7 percent compared with 15.5 per cent in Adelaide and 14.0 per cent across Australia. Children under 15 years accounted for 18.6 per cent of the ACT population, above Adelaide (17.7 per cent), similar to Melbourne (18.5 per cent) and less than Australia (19.3 per cent).

The ACT has a relatively young population with many people in their 20s, 30s and 40s, but comparatively few older people

How many people were counted in the ACT?

On Census night, 9th of August 2011, 360,550 people were counted in the ACT. Some 3,656 of these were overseas visitors. In addition, 17,287 ACT residents were away from home and a number of people were visiting from elsewhere in Australia. In total, 357,222 people were counted as usual residents of the ACT.

Are there more females than males?

Of the total usual resident population, 50.5 per cent were female. This share varied by age with 48.1 per cent of children under five years female (the lowest share) and 65.7 per cent of people aged 85 years and over female (the highest share). The age group 25-34 years was most closely matched with females outnumbering males by only 251.

All data on this fact sheet sourced from the 2011 Census of Population and Housing and refers to usual residents.

Census data is available for analysis from the ABS website

(see www.abs.gov.au)

ACT’S age profile

2011 Census fact sheets Issue #3 July 2012

Dependency ratios reflect the ratio of so-called ‘dependent’ age groups relative to those of working age. The dependent age groups are usually determined as 0-14 years (youth dependency) and 65 years and over (aged dependency), building to a total dependency comprising both the young and the aged, relative to the number of working age.

Total dependency in the ACT is relatively low at 41.4 dependents (people aged less than 15 years or more than 64 years) for every 100 people of working age (15 to 64 years). The national figure is 49.9 dependents per 100 people of working age.

Youth dependency in the ACT (26.3 per 100 working age) is comparable to that in Adelaide (26.5 per 100 working age) and Melbourne (27.0 per 100 working age), but less than Perth (28.2 per 100 working age) and the Australian figure (28.9 per 100 working age).

The aged dependency ratio in the ACT (15.1 per 100 working age) is substantially lower than the national figure (21.0 per 100 working age), with Adelaide also very high (23.2 per 100 working age).

What is the age structure?

People aged in their 20s and 30s, comprise the largest cohorts of the ACT population. Older working age people in their 40s and 50s also contribute substantial numbers to the population. By the age of 60 years, numbers begin to lessen and then decline sharply as age increases (ages over 79 are grouped into five year cohorts in the diagram below). A recent fertility increase is reflected in relatively large numbers of children aged less than five, so that they are more numerous than those aged 5-9 years or 10-14 years.

This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission from the Territory Records Office, Community and Infrastructure Services, Territory and Municipal Services, ACT Government. GPO Box 158, Canberra City ACT 2601.

Enquiries about this publication should be directed to:

Chief Minister and Cabinet Directorate ACT Government

http://www.cmd.act.gov.au/policystrategic/actstats

© Australian Capital Territory, Canberra 2012