The costs associated with an ageing population in Australia are putting increasing pressure on the fiscal resources of the government. This pressure will intensify as the proportion of elderly doubles over the next few decades. Under this increasing fiscal pressure, the government will be increasingly looking to individuals to provide for themselves.

The prospect of the baby boomers reaching retirement in the near future is an economic concern for most OECD countries. The future costs of their pension schemes and the escalating health care costs are coming on top of already stretched budgets. In Australia, a three-pillar system (the three pillars being the Age Pension, compulsory and...

The 'ageing crisis' is founded on three main assumptions: that older people are a social and economic burden; that population ageing will result in a serious dependency ratio imbalance; and, that there is a close correspondence between the size of the aged population and increased public expenditure. This paper argues that the transition to an...

This report presents analysis of Department of Family and Community Services' (FaCS) 'Workforce Circumstances and Retirement Attitudes of Older Australians' survey. It was prepared to assist FaCS' assessment of policy options to encourage employment and self-sufficiency among people aged 50 or over. The analysis focuses on identifying four groups of individuals: those older than official...

This research was undertaken by ASFA with the cooperation of the Council of the Ageing (Australia), the peak community organisation for older persons. The interviews were undertaken by Ageing Agendas. The research examines some of the dimensions of ‘adequacy’ and retirement income from an individual perspective. It is largely qualitative in its nature, but the...