AUSTRALIAN IMMIGRATION NEWS

Australian Statistics indicate longer lives, better education and a growing country

Thursday, 12 February 2009

Recent findings from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) indicate that Australians are living longer. The percentage of the Australian population older than 65 years has increased to 13% in 2006, compares to just 4% back in 1901.

Statistics also show that Generation X and Y are the most highly qualified generation, with a quarter having a Bachelor degree or higher educational qualification.

Population wise, Australia’s population increased by one million between the years 201-2006. Half of this was from a natural increase, and the other half was through overseas migration. Australia is one of the top 4 countries in which people migrate to, along with the UK, United States, and Canada.

An interesting finding was also that young Australians continue the trend of leaving inland rural areas towards the bigger coastal cities. The ABS states that the loss of young people makes it difficult to sustain population levels in these more remote areas of Australia. This has severely impacted on the economy as employers in regional parts of Australia are continuously faced with the lack of skilled workers. The migration programme does allow skilled workers to come to Australia, and gives priority to those who will be going to these regional parts of Australia, where their skills are in shortage due to labour shortages.

If you are interested in Visas to Australia, contact Migration Expert for information and advice on which visa is best suited to you. You can also try our visa eligibility assessment to see if you are eligible to apply for a visa to Australia.