In order to celebrate World Population Day, business information analysts IBISWorld have looked into the future to see where we will be in 2020.
According to IBISWorld predictions, by 2020 our population will increase to 25.7 million, growing by 1.5 percent each year, whilst net migration to Australia will total 2.5 million.
Our population will get older, with life expectancy increasing from 83 years for women to 85 and from 77 years for men to 80. However we will be crippled with health problems, as it is expected one in three Australians will be classified as ‘obese’ by 2020 with associated health problems such as Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, up from the current level of one in four.
We will also be well educated, and looking to balance family and work commitments. In 2009 approximately 63.1 percent of 17 year olds are full-time students, and in 2020 this will increase to 68.2 percent fuelled by state government proposals to increase the minimum mandatory school leaving age.
IBISWorld expects the numbers of workers choosing to balance work with family commitments to increase between now and 2020, with a proportion of women in the workforce increasing from 45.1 percent to 46 percent.
Online shopping will also be given a boost in 2020, fuelled by the spending power of Gen Y, says IBISWorld general manager (Australia) Robert Bryant.
Bryant believes we will see “more retailing conducted via a multi-channel approach, integrating the internet and associated online technologies to a greater extent than we see today.”
For more information on this report, please visit www.ibisworld.com.au
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