At a glance:

• People aged 50 and over in Australia already accounted for more than 1 in 4 workers (29%) in 2017 – this could rise to more than 1 in 3 (35%) by 2035.
• More than 2 in 5 Australian dollars in the Australian economy were spent by households led by people aged 50 and older in 2015, amounting to 18% of GDP.
• The value of unpaid contributions by older people across the G20, such as volunteering and caring. equate to nearly USD 60 billion every year.

We’ve become accustomed to ageing populations being presented as a bad thing. But far from being a cost or drain on public resources, older people’s social and economic impact is significant.

But it could be much higher if we remove avoidable barriers to working, spending, caring and volunteering, with the most important being poor health.

We know that countries that invest more in health see more people working, spending and volunteering and that investment in prevention drives a return. Spending just 0.1 percentage points more on preventative health can unlock an additional 9% in spending by older consumers and an average of 10 additional hours of volunteering across the G20.

In this report, we highlight the economic contributions of older people in Australia today and what more could be done to unlock a longevity dividend over the years to come, which could be instrumental in the post-COVID recovery.

To achieve this, we call on the Australian Government to adopt an Ageing Society New Deal that sees spend on prevention raised to 6% of health budgets, alongside greater support for older people’s paid and unpaid contributions.