Independence in Ageing: The Social and Financial Circumstances of Older Overseas-born Australians

This report was commissioned during the International Year of Older Persons (1999) by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. It explores the social and economic circumstances of older (those aged 55 and over) overseas-born Australians, and uses English Proficiency Country Groupings to split out and examine the diversity characteristic of the overseas-born. 1 This breakdown into English Proficiency Country (EP) Groups yields a rich source of information useful to policy malcers and planners in a range of government departments as well as in both for-profit and not-for-profit organisations. The report aims to provide policy relevant information, but does not undertake policy analysis. A summary of the findings follows. In 1996, there were 1. 1 million people aged 5 5 and over living in Australia who were born overseas, up from 0.87 million in 1986. They comprised some 31 % of the total Australian population aged 55 and over. Almost two thirds of these (59%) were from non-English-speaking countries. Both the proportion of older people who are born overseas, and the proportion born in non-English-speaking countries, are set to increase in the 21st century.