First look: How the North Burnett, Qld will change in the next 20 years

The North Burnett region is expected to continue transforming in fundamental way, with new reports revealing what the region will look like – and the problems it may face – as it heads towards 2046.

The North Burnett’s shrinking population is expected to contract further in the next 20 years, with the region facing this new challenge in the midst of lingering socioeconomic problems. Photo Lachie Millard

The North Burnett’s shrinking population is expected to contract further in the next 20 years, with the region facing this new challenge in the midst of lingering socio-economic problems.

Latest figures from the Queensland Government Statistician’s office reveal the region’s already small population would become smaller at the same time its average age continues to creep up.

The figures show the median age of the North Burnett’s residents in 2023 was 49.6, 11 years older than the statewide average of 38.5.

By 2046, this was expected to be 51.9 years, 10 years more than the state average.

This age gap was driven by an ongoing demographic gap in the region’s 25-44 age group.

Where this age group makes up 27.6 per cent of Queensland’s overall population, in the North Burnett it accounts for one fifth (20.4 per cent).

The North Burnett’s shrinking population is expected to contract further in the next 20 years, with the region facing this new challenge in the midst of lingering socio-economic problems. Photo Lachie Millard

In contrast, more than a quarter (27.2 per cent) of the North Burnett’s residents were aged 65 or older, eight percentage points higher than state’s 17 per cent average.

The brakes were expected to be put on a population which had been growing at the same rate as Queensland’s, too.

From 2021 to 2046 the North Burnett’s population was predicted to shrink from 10,144 to 9360, an average annual growth rate of -0.3 per cent.

This was a further drop from the region’s already declining annual growth rate of -0.1 per cent between 2013 and 2023.

In comparison Queensland’s population was expected to grow at a rate of 1.5 per cent per year in the same period.

The expected decline will come amid lingering socio-economic concerns in the region.

The figures show in 2021 the region recorded a homelessness rate of 56.8 people per 10,000, 13 points higher than Queensland’s rate of 43.2 per 10,000 people.

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Economic disadvantage at the Wide Bay Burnett remains among the worst in Australia, Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows.

Economic disadvantage remains a major problem with 60.5 per cent of the region’s population falling into the lowest fifth of the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ SEIFA disadvantage scale.

The ABS says low SEIFA scores are found in places with “many households with low incomes, or many people in unskilled occupations, and a few households with high incomes, or few people in skilled occupations”.

No North Burnett residents were reported to fall into the top fifth of the disadvantage scale.

The median personal income in the North Burnett was $555 per week, more than $200 less than Queensland’s median of $787.

The median yearly personal and family incomes for the North Burnett residents were $28,860 and $68,484.

These were below the state averages of $40,924 and $105,248.

The region’s residents are also reliant on social service support payments, with higher rates of people in the region claiming the aged pension, carer allowance, disability support pension, family tax benefit A, and Jobseeker than the state’s average.