Market Trends of Australia Senior Living Industry
Increasing Senior Population and Life Expectancy driving the market
- Around a quarter of Australians will be 65 or older in 27 years, with the proportion of younger Australians declining. In two years, the number of people aged 65 and above will have surpassed the number of children aged 0 to 14. There are twice as many women as men aged 85 and above, reflecting their longer life expectancy. The number of Australians aged 85 and over is expected to rise from 540,000 in 2020 to 1.57 million in 27 years.
- One in every three Australians over 65 comes from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Around 840,000 Australians aged 65 and above were born in another country. Australians have one of the world's longest life expectancies. Men live nearly 80 years, and women live 84 years, 25 years longer than a century ago. The physical health of older Australians is also improving, and most people (82%) are satisfied with their standard of living.
- Most older Australians live independently at home — only one in every four people over 85 lives in a care accommodation. Compared to previous generations, rates of volunteering among the "baby boomer" generation – recently retired, healthy, and inclined to give back to their communities - continue to rise.
Adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHR) Driving the Market
- As of January 2022, more than 23.2 million Australians had signed up for the national electronic health record (EHR)—My Health Record (MHR), making it a huge success. The adoption of MHR will propel the EHR market in Australia to new heights. Australia's EHR market is expected to grow from USD 161.7 million in 2018 to nearly USD 227.5 million by 2025. EHR adoption will improve healthcare quality while also lowering overall treatment costs.
- The MHR system will give the Australian government direct, reliable, and comprehensive access to healthcare data and specific information such as health conditions, hospital visits, and patient services. The government can use this information to develop disease-specific healthcare policies to help lower morbidity and mortality in the long run.
- In MHR, the number of records with data increased by more than 2.16 million in 2021. In January 2022, consumers and healthcare providers uploaded 563 million documents to the system, including clinical, medical, and consumer documents. 196K people who had previously opted out have now signed up for a My Health Record in January 2022, up more than 13% from the previous month.