Implications of population trends

Future Challenges For Australia – Stage 5 Geography Syllabus 5A4

Syllabus Agenda Population

Implications of population trends: ecological sustainability population movement and urban planning

Introduction In Australia there has been ongoing debate

about the challenge of population. The debate has focused on issues such as:

the ageing of the population, levels of migration, whether Australia is under-populated how many people Australia can sustain – in

particular, how many people can a large and growing city such as Sydney sustain. .

Lingo List Fertility rate - the average number of children born

to each woman of childbearing age Declining fertility – a reduction in the ability to have

children for women of childbearing age Life expectancy - the number of years that a person

born at a particular point of time can expect to live Net overseas migration - net (arrivals – departures)

permanent long-term arrivals and depar tures

ABS Predictions

The future rate of growth and size of Australia’s population will depend on three key factors: fertility rate, life expectancy and net overseas migration.

Age structureAustralia’s ageing population

Population Growth /Shrinkage

Declining fertility and increased life expectancy over recent decades, each of which can be attributed to a whole range of factors

Due to high fertility rates and high levels of immigration following World War II, a significantly larger number of Australians were born between 1945 and the early 1960s. This period has come to be known as the ‘baby boom’ and those born during it as the ‘baby boomers’.

Changes in Age Structures 1911,1961, 2000 & 2051

Implications of an Aging Population

The ageing of Australia’s population will have wide- ranging social and economic implications for the nation, including increased need for: income to support individuals in retirement  government welfare payments health care and aged care services individuals in the community to take care of

elderly relatives improved community infrastructure and services

that cater for the elderly positive community attitudes towards the elderly.

Spatial Distribution Australia’s average population density is 2.7 people

per square kilometre. The population of Australia is not evenly spread it is

mostly concentrated in the coastal regions, in particular the southeast, southwest and east coasts of Australia.

Coastal Regions Within these coastal regions, Australia’s population

is concentrated in urban centres and in the capital cities. e.g. in New South Wales, 60 per cent of the

population is concentrated in Sydney.

The growth of coastal regions has been attributed to the phenomenon of the ‘sea change’ – the desire of many Australians to make a fundamental change in their lifestyles.

Researchers have explored the move of Australians away from the cities to the coast and also non-coastal locations, particularly those not far from the city

Migration and Refugees

Lingo List Migration

The movement from one place to another

Immigration The permanent movement to Australia of people

who are either skilled, family and special eligibility stream migrants or for Humanitarian reasons e.g. for refugees and other reasons relating to the saving of human lives or to the alleviation of suffering.

Emigration The permanent movement of people from Australia

to another country

Australia’s Immigration Program

Australia’s permanent immigration program has two components: Migration for skilled, family and special eligibility stream migrants Humanitarian migration for refugees and others with

humanitarian needs.

Australia has a non-discriminatory migration policy, which means that anyone from any country can apply to move permanently to Australia regardless of their ethnic origin, gender, colour or religion. The set criteria for each category of migrants. Skill: migrants must satisfy a points test, have particular work

skills, be nominated by employers or have other links to Australia, or have successful business skills and/or significant capital to bring to Australia to establish a business to benefit the country.

Family: migrants are selected on the basis of a family relationship to a sponsor in Australia – essentially spouses, fiancés, dependent children and parents who meet the ‘balance of family test’ (a test designed to indicate how strong the parents’ family links are to Australia compared with other countries).

Humanitarian: refugees and other humanitarian program arrivals must satisfy criteria concerning refugee or humanitarian cases: Refugee criteria – for those who meet the United

Nations Convention definitionof a refugee and have been identified in conjunction with the UN Refugee Agency(UNHCR) as in need of resettlement

Special Humanitarian Program – for those who have suffered discrimination amounting to gross violation of human rights, displacement or hardship, and whohave strong support from an Australian citizen or permanent resident in Australia

Onshore Protection Visa Grants – for refugees granted protection visas in Australia.