South Australia's ageing population and its increasingly multicultural nature

Introduction: In South Australia there has been a massive change in the bac kground of the older population. Objective: The paper analyses recent changes in the growth and distribution of the ethnic aged population in South Australia. Method: The paper utilises the results of the 1996 Australian Census of Pop ulation and Housing. Results: Whereas in 1971, 19.7 Percent of the Stare's population aged 65 ye ars and over were overseas-born, this applied to 34 percent ill 1996. Moreo ver this share will continue to increase over the next decade. The proporti on who were born in non-English-speaking countries has increased from 5.1 t o 22.1 percent. Each of the major birthplace groups among the ethnic aged h as a distinctive spatial distribution. Conclusion: This presents a major challenge to policy makers and service pr oviders since the overseas-born groups have some characteristics which mean that their needs for services are somewhat different to those of the Anglo -Celtic majority.