South Australia's ageing population and its increasingly multicultural nature

Abstract

Introduction: In South Australia there has been a massive change in the background of the older population. Objective: The paper analyses recent changes in the growth and distribution of the ethnic aged population in South Australia. Method: The paper utilises the results of the 1996 Australian Census of Population and Housing. Results: Whereas in 1971, 19.7 percent of the State's population aged 65 years and over were overseas-born, this applied to 34 percent in 1996. Moreover, this share will continue to increase over the next decade. The proportion who were born in non-English-speaking countries has increased from 5.1 to 22.1 percent. Each of the major birthplace groups among the ethnic aged has a distinctive spatial distribution. Conclusion: This presents a major challenge to policy makers and service providers since the overseas-born groups have some characteristics which mean that their needs for services are somewhat different to those of the Anglo-Celtic majority.