Queensland suburbs seeing a decline in children under age of five

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

They are the Queensland 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 Townsville now has 1575 fewer under 5s living there than in 2011, while Cairns – South has 1384 has fewer under 5s than it did 10 years ago, followed by The Hills District with 928 less, Charters Towers – Ayr – Ingham 863, Burnett 806; Bundaberg 806; Springwood – Kingston 780; Bowen Basin – North 753; Central Highlands (Qld) 664 and Mackay 632.

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.

The number of under 5s in some suburbs are declining fast.

“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.

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

Areas that have seen an increase in the number of under 5s include Ormeau – Oxenford, which has gained 3371 in the past 10 years, followed by Springfield – Redbank, North Lakes, Jimboomba, Rocklea – Acacia Ridge, Browns Plains, Brisbane Inner, Caloundra, Forest Lake – Oxley and Mt Gravatt.

While some Queensland regions are experiencing a toddler drought, the official Brisbane Inner, region, which includes New Farm, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane CBD, South Brisbane, West End, Highgate Hill and Kangaroo Point, has also seen the one of the biggest influx of tots in over the past decade, recording an increase of 718 children under five, according to recent censusdata.

New Farm mum Phoebe Rouse moved to the suburb six years ago and has noticed the rise in the number of young children in the area.

“I definitely notice that there is a lot of young families around here, there’s a lot of people out walking with strollers” she said.

“And I guess that’s probably why a lot of us choose to live here, for the lifestyle, we’ve got the river walks and the parks close-by.”

Phoebe adds that having lots young families in the area was beneficial to her, being able to join a local ‘mums and bubs’ group soon after having her 16-month-old son Charlie, a Mater miracle baby born after nine rounds of IVF.

(L-R) Laura Spagnolo with Elena, Jamie-Louise Marples with Arabella, Mariluz Garcia with Coral, Molly Dunkle with Winifred, Phoebe Rouse with Charlie and Saorla Goodwin with Eleanor at New Farm Park. Picture: Richard Walker

“It started out when the babies were about eight weeks old, so it was an opportunity to connect with other first time mothers, and so in the beginning we used to meet once a week and share war stories” she said.

“We’ve got a really interesting mix of nationalities in the group, so a lot of them don’t have family here, so it was a greatsupport network even though we were originally just strangers”.

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.

– with Georgia Clelland

Originally published as Queensland suburbs seeing a decline in children under age of five