The Demographic Cliff

According to Demographer Bernard Salt:

“We need skills, labour, accommodation facilities and funding to support what is, in effect, the first wave of the baby boomer generation moving into frail old age.” 

Welcome to the problem facing most of the first world.

Like many other countries, Australia is heading toward a demographic cliff as our population ages and our younger people are having fewer children.

That will please the climate change cultists and the depopulation enthusiasts, but it will change almost everything about our society.

Firstly, our aging population is also living longer, which will put enormous stress on service provision for this cohort. The commercial sector will meet some of that demand as it caters to a healthier and more active group of retirees.

However, living longer will also strain the health and aged-care sectors, both of which are mainly government-funded.

With fewer taxpayers, the government will look to slap an income stream on almost anything.

The government (of whatever political stripe) will use third-world immigration to counter the depopulation effect. In itself, this will massively change the country.

To understand just how significant this global demographic shift will be, here are some numbers for the nation currently driving manufacturing and resource demand in the world economy.