CANBERRA, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Australians born after 1990 are better educated and will live longer than previous generations, but have been locked out of the housing market, according to a landmark government report.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Monday released the first Intergenerational Report in three years, forecasting how falling birth rates and an aging population will reshape Australia over the next 40 years.
The report projected that Australia's fertility rate will fall from 1.44 children per woman to 1.34 by 2066.
It said that falling birth rates will be offset by increasing life expectancy, with the national population expected to grow from 28 million in 2026 to 39.3 million by 2066.
However, it said that the proportion of the population aged 65 and over is expected to grow from 17.8 percent to 24.8 percent in the same period, driving an increase in government spending on healthcare and aged care services.
The report attributed the falling fertility rate to a combination of economic, social and cultural factors, including more time spent in education and longer periods spent by Australians living with their parents.
It found that the homeownership rate among people aged 25-34 fell by 17 percentage points in the 40 years to 2021.
Housing prices in Australia have increased by 400 percent since 1999, the report said, more than twice as fast as average incomes.
"Young Australians have been locked out of the housing market as house prices have risen faster than incomes over decades. If homeownership rates had remained at their 1981 levels, the most recent data available indicates around 250,000 more households aged 25-34 would own their own home," the report said.
Handing down the report, Chalmers said that the development of AI has been the biggest change since the last Intergenerational Report was released in 2023, describing the technology as the "biggest economic transformation of our lifetime."
The report said that AI will likely boost economic productivity and that Australia is well-positioned to benefit from the technological revolution, but said that there is a wide range of potential future outcomes, including significant labor market impacts. ■