First look: How Fraser Coast, Qld will change in the next 20 years
The Fraser Coast 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.
Fraser Coast
Don't miss out on the headlines from Fraser Coast. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The Fraser Coast’s population is expected to age significantly compared to the rest of Queensland in the coming decades, while the number of people moving to the region will slow.
Latest figures from the Queensland Government Statistician’s office reveal the region’s already existing age gap compared to the rest of the state is expected to widen further in the next two decades.
The figures show the median age of the Fraser Coast’s residents in 2023 was 51.6, more than 13 years older than the statewide average of 38.5.
By 2046 this is expected to rise to 57.1 years, extending the gap with the rest of the state to almost 16 years.
This 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 Fraser Coast it accounted for less one fifth (18.2 per cent).
In contrast almost one third (30.4 per cent) of the Fraser Coast’s residents were aged 65 or older, 13 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 Fraser Coast’s population was predicted to grow from 112,078 to 136,870, an average annual growth rate of .8 per cent.
This was half the region’s average annual growth rate of 1.6 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 growth will come amid lingering socio-economic concerns in the region.
Rescue boat sent to island after teen bitten by snake
‘Manifestly inadequate’: A-G appeals teen’s triple-fatal crash sentence
The figures show in 2021 the region recorded a homelessness rate of 53.7 people per 10,000, 10 points higher than Queensland’s rate of 43.2 per 10,000 people.
Economic disadvantage remains a major problem with three out of every five residents (59.1 per cent) 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”.
Only 5.8 per cent of the region’s population falls in the top fifth of the disadvantage scale.
The median personal income for the Fraser Coast residents was $533 per week, more than $200 less than Queensland’s median of $787.
The median yearly personal and family incomes for the Fraser Coast residents were $27,716 and $67,236.
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.
Watch: Campgrounds cleared, tracks go under amid fresh warnings
Video showing much of Inskip underwater and debris strewn across the Fraser and Cooloola Coast’s beaches have emerged as the mayor overseeing the towns most at risk issues a new warning.
WATCH: Moment ski paddler smashed by cyclonic swell
The moment a surf ski paddler was smashed by a wave and had to be rescued has been captured as Tropical Cyclone Alfred continues to whip up powerful swells on the Sunshine Coast. VIDEO, PHOTOS.