Population ageing and human capital accumulation in Australia
Ewa Orzechowska-Fischer and Hui Wei
Australian Bureau of Statistics
Contact Email: hui.wei
abs.gov.au
Population ageing is an important economic issue facing developed countries, generating many studies and debates. The analysis of population ageing and policy initiatives for dealing with it requires the availability of relevant statistics. Using the experimental measurement framework of human capital developed at the Australian Bureau of Statistics this study provides quantitative assessment of the impact of population ageing on human capital development.
Our estimates show that since the early 1990’s, the human capital stock in Australia has been depreciating at an accelerated rate due to population ageing, and this trend has been to some extend counterbalanced by increasing investment in education and training.
With population ageing projected to accelerate in the future, negative contribution of ageing to the human capital accumulation is likely to significantly increase. Substantial investment in maintaining and increasing educational attainment of the Australian population will be necessary to compensate for ageing-driven depletion of human capital stocks.
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