Cairns population ages significantly
New figures show almost a quarter of the population of Cairns is now aged over 55, a rise of more than 5% over the past decade.
The statistics have been released as part of a special report on population age structure in Herron Todd White’s latest CairnsWatch bulletin.
Research Director Rick Carr said there was a steady rise of people in the 55+ age bracket between 2008 and 2018, from 19.3% to 24.9%.
“It’s due to the combined impacts of baby boomers entering these age ranges, population ageing and older people remaining affiliated with Cairns rather than moving elsewhere,” he said.
The report also shows the number of babies and toddlers aged between 0 and 4 is also down by more than 1%.
The largest decrease, though, has occurred in the combined 15-34 and 35-44 age bracket, which is down by 3% to 26.2%.
“That’s suggestive of families with high school or university aged children having lesser attachment to the region,” Mr Carr said.
“The upshot is that the age composition in Cairns has moved far closer to the Queensland average than it was ten years ago.”
When compared with Cairns, the state average shows Queensland overall has a smaller proportion of people aged between 50 and 64 but a much larger proportion of those aged over 65.
