Intergenerational Report Examining the Outlook for Future Budgets Future Commonwealth governments could face significant fiscal pressure from an ageing population and the high costs of technological advances in health care.
Australia's population is getting older		Like many other countries, Australia's population is ageing. Australian women are having fewer children and people are living longer. Together these lead to a smaller proportion of young people in the population and a larger proportion of older people.
which may place pressures on future government finances		The Intergenerational Report presented with this Budget considers how much pressure the ageing of the population and other cost pressures could place on future government finances.
spending may exceed revenue by 5 per cent of GDP by 2042		If current trends continue, Commonwealth Government spending could rise significantly over the next 40 years. Assuming that revenue remains around the current share of GDP, rising levels of spending would push the Budget into deficit. The gap between spending and revenue could grow to 5 per cent of GDP by 2042 which amounts to $87 billion in today's dollars.
		A widening gap between spending and revenue could jeopardise Australia's future economic prospects. Therefore, it is sensible to consider now the policies that would better position us to respond to the likely pressures.
An Emerging Gap between Revenue and Spending over the next 40 Years