Background—the last 30 years
Ageing in the Australian community
The average age of the Australian population has been increasing since the 1970s, reversing the
trend of the 1950s and 1960s caused by the post-war baby boom (ABS 2013). In 1985, 10% of the
population were aged 65 and over compared with 15% in 2014 (ABS 2014a). Furthermore, within
the older population, the number of ‘very old’—aged 85 and over—has been growing at a greater
rate than the number aged 65 to 84, so that the proportion of older Australians who are very old has
been increasing