When I'm 64More fun fact nuggets dropped from the Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday. Last year's Census data is taking shape, and as a well-respected mathemastician, it is my civic duty to respond. I could have poured over the figures in a methodical and balanced manner, but the new Doctor Who is on tv and I have the attention span of a goldfish. The following opinions are based on my fifteen minute read though various News Ltd. sources.
People are getting older, no surprises there. A combination of advances in healthcare and the baby boomers' slow march to the grave has pushed the age of the average Australian up by 2 years.
Australians are also getting richer, and there's been an increase in renting despite more than 600,000 new dwellings being built in the last five years. I think I can see where all that money is going. I wonder, if I crack an old person open they'll shower money like a piñata.
Australians really are having one for the father, one for the mother and one for the nation. We're having a new baby boom. The official figures show the percentage of new borns actually declining in the last five years, only because the huge gain in old folks has skewed things out of proportion. Old people. Is there anything that isn't in their favour?
Those of you that know me know that I blame baby boomers for everything from the price of houses to my own jaded world view. Now it's time to add another to the list of things that they've ruined for the rest of us: marriage. Gens X and Y have witnessed their parents' horrendous marriage breakups and are determined not to make the same mistake (me included). For the first time since Australian records began, less than half of the adult population are married. The percentage of adults who are married has dropped by 1.8% in the last five years, which is almost exactly how much the percentage of adults who have never married has gone up in that same period. Couple that with the above mentioned new baby boom and we're becoming a nation of bastards, living in sin.
More old people, more young people and more rich people. Wedged between two larger voting blocs, the future could look bleak for my generation.
Maybe not. Older people tend to hoard things, neither selling what they have nor buying new things. That means we'll still be paying rent to our decaying land(over)lords for a number of years yet. The other side of that coin is that they spend big on services, whether they be medical or recreational. They'll be relying on a smaller (and therefore, more scarce) generation than their own for those services, and we'll be happy to charge like a bull. I'll wipe anyone's arse for the right price.
The new baby boom ensures that my generation will not suffer the same fate. Always look on the bright side of life.
One thing that can't be avoided is the number of Beatles tunes appearing on every second television ad. Advertisers know that old people love nothing more than recounting their youth, and let's face it, Michael Jackson always needs the money.
«PreviousNext»
Wow, i thought i was the only one to look up census data. Of course, i really don't give a fuck about the rest of the country, i just have an unhealthy obsession with how much (or little) the "no religion" declarees went up (3%, woohoo, i don't think that's even adjusted for population growth). I know things are unlikely to change in my lifetime, but i keep holding out hope that if enough people get over the ignorant religious bullshit they were (most likely) raised in and realise what's really important (their own lives) then we'll get a better concentration of minds working on solving the things that kill us, not to mention simple death and aging itself (people should not be afraid to think as a society of selfish cooperators - it's how things really work now anyway, from the genetic to the social level, there's just pretenses and ignorance in the way of it becoming an epicurean utopia).
How about that! I just managed to tie in your disgust of old people with my disgust of religious people, all under the context of the topic. Of census data. Damn i'm good.
Comment posting is disabled.
