Founder of The Demographics Group Simon Kuestenmacher to speak at Future Townsville event

Smart decisions are needed now to fix what’s being called “catastrophic” levels of mental health within North Queensland, a leading demographer says. See how we can do it.

Demographics Group Director Simon Kuestenmacher.

Smart decisions are needed now to fix what’s being called “catastrophic” levels of mental health within North Queensland.

Using data to predict the future of Townsville’s health, demographer and keynote speaker at Friday’s Future Townsville event Simon Kuestenmacher says one in four women aged 21 to 24 years old have a medically diagnosed condition.

Co-founder of The Demographic Group, Mr Kuestenmacher said there was a “life cycle” to mental health from children up to the elderly.

“The last Census asked for the first time ‘Do you have a medically diagnosed health condition?’ so we now have data attached to that,” he said.

“Young people now are now outrageously pessimistic, their mental health is a catastrophe.”

The demographer has been working in populations-based statistics for a decade and said data was important for industries such as healthcare.

“By understanding demographics, you are understanding as a policy maker or business owner, how to make smart decisions,” he said.

“We can forecast the future reasonably well, it’s the closest thing to a crystal ball that we have.”

Demographer Simon Kuestenmacher. Picture: David Smith

Speaking at the Future Townsville event to be held at The Ville, Mr Kuestenmacher will highlight the figures that most greatly affect the region, with mental health, aged care and Indigenous health the major data points.

“I will be speaking about the future of health in Townsville, looking ahead ten years and seeing what figures are emerging,” he said.

“We can see in the next 12 years Townsville will see the doubling of the 85 years and over population. That is very significant because half of the population of that age needs care of some kind.”

“The biggest growing sector is healthcare and social assistance, and that forever onwards will be the fastest growing sector.”

Mr Kuestenmacher also spoke of Townsville experiencing the ‘sponge-city effect’, which sees smaller surrounding towns relying on using larger cities’ resources. “This can have negative impacts on those small towns because bit by bit they shrink and fall below yet another population threshold, causing shops and businesses to close,” he said.

“This then affects the larger city, such as Townsville, as there is an increase in people unable to join the workforce.”

“The skills shortage then remains due to a large part of the population ageing out of the workforce, and a smaller cohort entering.”

He also spoke of the ‘shocking’ statistics revealing young women have worse mental health outcomes than men.

“This is happening all across the country, with women in their teenage years to their early thirties the most affected by mental health difficulties.”

Originally published as Founder of The Demographics Group Simon Kuestenmacher to speak at Future Townsville event