Victorian suburbs seeing a decline in children under age of five

These are the suburbs in danger of losing schools, as family-friendly areas across Victoria are shrinking. Experts now explain why. Search and see the list.

They are the Victorian suburbs in danger of running out of children

A low birth rate and people living in their own homes for longer means some family-friendly spots, which were once bursting with kids, have seen a dramatic drop in the number of under 5s.

Latest census data shows Boroondara now has 1516 fewer under 5s living there than in 2011, while the suburb of Bayside has 1104 less children in the same age group. Other areas to see a decline include Brimbank with 992; Glen Eira 863; Whitehorse – West 765; Brunswick – Coburg 741; Banyule 651; Darebin – South 650; Mornington Peninsula 520 and Knox 491.

Demographer Simon Kuestenmacher said areas such as these were ageing and at risk of seeing schools close because of a lack of demand and shops and services pivot to appeal to older people.

“We will have plenty of suburbs where you will run out of students and schools will need to make decisions,” Mr Kuestenmacher said.

Mr Kuestenmacher, who co-founded The Demographics Group, said couples are choosing to have fewer children, others are not starting a family until later making it less likely that they will be able to have a large family, while others are choosing not to have any at all.

“Lots of young people are not positive about the world and don’t want to bring children into it,” Mr Kuestenmacher said.

“You need a population that is optimistic about the future and the economy to make babies.”

He said Millennials are beginning to have children, but are unable to buy in the traditional family-friendly suburbs due to empty nesters keeping hold of their three or four bedroom homes where they brought their own children up.

Less toddlers are being born across Victoria but there are some growth areas too.

Young families are being forced out to the outer urban fringes or the regions.

Wyndham in Melbourne’s outer suburbs saw an astonishing 11,197 increase in the number of under 5s in its area over the past 10 years, while other suburbs to see numbers increase include Casey – South, Tullamarine – Broadmeadows, Whittlesea – Wallan, Melton – Bacchus Marsh, Cardinia, Geelong, Surf Coast – Bellarine Peninsula, Melbourne City and Moreland – North.

Mother-of-two Meenakshi said Point Cook, which is in the City of Wyndham, was the perfect place to raise her young children.

“It’s a family friendly place, with good schools, a lot of parks, and it’s fairly close to the city,” she said.

“The kids really like it, it’s a really nice community here.

“There are a lot of young families in my street, almost everyone has a minimum of two kids.”

The city of Wyndham has had the biggest increase in kids aged 0-4 of any location in Victoria over the past decade. Vipul and Meenakshi (mother) with kids Viraaj, 4 Ayaan, 3 Picture: Jason Edwards

Anastasia Lloyd-Wallis from leading retail consultancy group Retail Doctor said the face of our suburbs are changing, with statistics showing a rise in DINKs – Double Income No Kids couples.

She said while there has been a drop in the number of people having babies, there’s been a 25 per cent rise in DINKS – up from 2.7m in 2013 to 3.4m in 2021. She said they have plenty of money and are happy to pay for convenience.

“We are seeing a move towards people wanting high density living,” Ms Lloyd-Wallis the company’s Head of Insights said.

“These people want ‘grab and go’ convenience food and delivery services.”

She said in the future there may be whole towns focused on serving older people, who are staying healthier and active for longer, but want to live somewhere nice.

She said in terms of finding enough workers, robots and automation will fill some of the gaps, with moves towards robot retail staff to help customers and even robot baristas.