According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the nation’s total fertility rate fell to a record low of 1.50 babies per woman in 2023. The ABS also reported that the median age of parents hit a record high of 33.8 (fathers) and 31.9 (mothers) in 2023. Last week’s Q1 2025 population data from the
The University of Melbourne’s latest Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey has found that households have less disposable income than they did before the pandemic. The survey found that mean annual household disposable income has dropped below 2020 levels to $116,432. Households are also spending far more on childcare, rent, and mortgage
Sunset over Mount Dromedary, Broulee, NSW AUD/USD EUR/USD USD/JPY GBP/USD Gold WTI Brent Australia 200 US S&P 500
The post Macro Afternoon: 22 September 2025 appeared first on MacroBusiness.
A decade ago, soaring New Zealand home prices were “freaking people out, especially in Auckland”, claims Catherine Masters at One Roof. “The headlines were relentless in stories of despair by first-home buyers shut out of the market, and that was before Covid became a household name and prices went higher still”, Masters wrote. “Back in
In the years following the conclusion of the mining boom, the size of government in Australia has continued to grow larger and larger. Conceptually, such growth is not necessarily a bad thing; if a government is wisely investing large amounts in infrastructure to boost the quality of service to the public and to enhance productivity,
Many often invoke Japan as a cautionary tale in discussions about Australia’s future and the appropriate level of migration, emphasising the importance of avoiding its fate. Viewed purely through the lens of fertility rates, that is undoubtedly the case; Japan has had a below-replacement fertility rate for over 50 years and, at a national level,
As the news of political and ideological division currently defining much of the discourse in the United States continues to filter in from across the Pacific, one is often left wondering to what degree Australia will face similar divisions. Following Shadow Home Affairs Minister Andrew Hastie’s pledge to quit the Shadow Cabinet unless the Coalition’s
One of Indian Albo’s greatest policy lies is that Labor diplomacy is reaping benefits across the Indo-Pacific. Then again, perhaps he is being truthful. There are benefits. It’s just that they are flowing to everybody other than Australia. Let us do an inventory on the current state of affairs, travelling from west to east. In
The Albanese government’s housing target is proving to be one of the nation’s biggest policy shams. The National Housing Accord set a target of building 1.2 million homes in the five years to 2028-29, which requires 240,000 homes to be built every year—a rate of construction never achieved before in the nation’s history. Nobody believes
Back in the day, the iron ore trade was governed by annual contract negotiations between Australian miners and a collection of Chinese steel mills under the aegis of CISA. These negotiations would set the price for contract iron ore for the next year. This fraught structure was broken down in the post-GFC environment when BHP’s