Australia in 2066: AI, slower economic growth and an ageing population | The Business | ABC NEWS
An older Australia, with less babies and a service based economy. That’s the glimpse forty years into Australia’s future provided by the Treasurer in the Intergenerational Report.
But households are predicted to enjoy cheaper power through the energy transition, and the transformation through the AI boom is predicted to be profound.
The forecast for Australia in 2066 also points to slower growth, mounting pressure from an ageing population, and growing intergenerational pressures, particularly around housing and wealth.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says incomes will be 55 per cent higher and living standards will be better.
Australia’s population is expected to grow from 28 million today to 39.3m by 2065-2066. That’s smaller than previously forecast, primarily due to a declining fertility rate.
Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black says fewer people will be working to fund older Australians, who have increasingly complex and costly care needs.
Grattan Institute chief executive Aruna Sathanapally says “Australia is actually better placed than many of our peer countries in terms of pension expenditure because of our superannuation system… there still are ways in which our pension system can be improved to make better use of public money to bring down that level of debt, that interest bill.”
However, the further out Treasury looks, the less certain the picture becomes. Ageing is relatively predictable, technology isn’t, with AI now one of the biggest wildcards for Australia’s economy.
Emerging technology professor at UTS, Nicholas Davis says “it’s very rare for a report looking at the future, any type of set of scenarios or predictions to rely so heavily on one single uncertainty like artificial intelligence”.
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Read more here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-21/intergenerational-report-falling-fertility-aging-population/107175426
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