Older Australians

Exploring the income of a population group can provide insights into their economic security. Generally, a person’s resources are accumulated over the course of their working lives and income levels can diminish during retirement, even as wealth or assets may not.

Many older Australians (aged 65 and over) receive government assistance through a range of payments to help support them financially. This page investigates the types and levels of income received by older people. Throughout this page, ‘older people’ refers to people aged 65 and over. Where this definition does not apply, the age group in focus is specified. The ‘Older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’ feature article defines older people as aged 50 and over. This definition does not apply to this page, with Indigenous Australians aged 50–64 not included in the information presented. 

Sources of income

People can receive income from multiple sources. To simplify this, the main source or sources of income that make up the largest proportion of an individual’s total income can be reported. This can be associated with people’s economic security and their socioeconomic circumstances.

The 2018 ABS Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers reported that for older Australians (aged 65 and over) with an income source, the main source of income was:

• government pension or allowance (57%), decreasing from 63% in 2015
• superannuation, annuity or private pension (21%), increasing from 18% in 2015
• wages or salary (8%), increasing from 7% in 2015 (ABS 2019) (see Figure 10.1).

Income and wealth

Income and wealth are two important concepts in determining a person’s economic resources. Income can be used to purchase goods and services, or saved and invested to increase wealth (ABS 2019). Wealth includes assets such as housing, superannuation, shares, savings and non-financial assets such as cars (Davidson et al. 2020). Generally speaking, incomes increase until around middle age, and wealth gradually increases during working years and is used during retirement (ABS 2019). As a result, in the older years in particular, people can have low incomes but high wealth.

During 2017–18, older people were more likely than younger people to be in low-income households, with 2 in 3 (66%) households with a reference person aged 65 years or over being in the lowest 40% of households as ranked by equivalised disposable income. The average wealth of these older households, however, was 1.5 times that of younger age group households ($1.4 million compared with $0.9 million, respectively). The main reason for this wealth difference is home ownership, with older people having houses of an average value of $597,000 compared with $328,000 for households with a reference person under 65 years (Davidson et al. 2020).

Income support payments

There are a range of government assistance payments available to support older Australians. The most common is the Age Pension – an income support payment for people who have reached Age Pension age (65.5 in 2017, 66.5 in July 2021, increasing to 67 in 2023), are under the income and assets test limits, and are an Australian resident (for at least 10 years). Among older Australians, recipient numbers for Jobseeker Payment, Disability Support Pension and Carer Payment have risen steeply in recent years as the qualifying age for Age Pension continues to increase (AIHW 2021b).

At June 2021, 2.8 million people aged 65 and over received an income support payment, equating to 2 in 3 (67%) of the population aged 65 and over (DSS 2021). Of these older people:

• The majority received the Age Pension (93%, 2.6 million).
• 1 in 29 received the Disability Support Pension (3.7%, 101,800).
• 1 in 50 received the Carer Payment (2.0%, 56,400).
• 1 in 83 received the JobSeeker Payment (1.1%, 30,300) (DSS 2021).

At June 2018, there were 2.6 million older people receiving an income support payment. Of these older people:

• The majority received the Age Pension (95%, 2.5 million).
• 2.8% received the Disability Support Pension (72,600).
• 1.8% received Carer Payment (46,400).
• 0.4% received Newstart Allowance (an unemployment-related payment) (10,600 people) (DSS 2018).

Between March 2018 and March 2021, the number of older people receiving the Disability Support Pension increased by 43% and recipients of the JobSeeker Payment and Newstart Allowance tripled, as the qualifying age for the Age Pension continued to rise. At March 2021, the proportion of the population aged 65 and over who received the Age Pension increased with age, up to age group 80–84:

• 38% for those aged 65–69
• 64% for those aged 70-74
• 82% for those aged 80–84.

For those 85 and over, the proportion dropped to 77% (AIHW 2021b).

Housing assistance

Sometimes people need help to meet the cost of housing. Government assistance is available to people on lower incomes, for example those who are renting or saving a deposit for a home purchase.

At 26 June 2020:

• 1 in 5 (20%) income units receiving Commonwealth Rent Assistance had a reference person aged 65 and over, compared with more than 1 in 4 where the reference person was aged 45–64 (27%)*
• 1 in 20 (5.1%) households receiving Private Rent Assistance had a main applicant 65 years and over compared with nearly 1 in 4 aged 45–64 (23%)
• 1 in 10 (11%) households receiving Home Purchase Assistance had a main applicant aged 65 years and over compared with 1 in 3 aged 45–64 (34%) (AIHW 2021a).

For more information on older Australians’ housing situation, see Housing and living arrangements.

Income during retirement

The age at which a person can access Australia’s Age Pension or superannuation is often referred to as ‘retirement age’ (depending on circumstances, between ages 55 and 67). While people can choose to retire at any age for any reason, the most common reason retirees left their previous job in 2018–19 was reaching ‘retirement age’ or being eligible for superannuation (46%) (ABS 2020).

The Survey of Retirement and Retirement Intentions reported that, in 2018–19, for people aged 45 and over:

• 36% of retired women relied on their partner’s income to meet their living costs at retirement (compared with 7% of retired men).
• For people who were intending to retire, financial security was the main factor that influenced their decision about when to retire (ABS 2020).

Of the 3.9 million retirees in Australia in 2018–19 aged 45 and over, the average age of retirement was 55.4. Around 2 in 5 (44%) women and 1 in 2 (49%) men had a government pension or allowance as their main source of income. Superannuation was the main source of income for a considerable proportion of retirees, especially men (30% for men and 17% for women). Women were far more likely than men to report no personal income (30% for women and 7% for men) (ABS 2020; AIHW 2021b). 

Superannuation and other assets

Access to superannuation to supplement the Age Pension is important for older people’s economic security. In 2018–19, around two-thirds (67%) of retirees reported that they had made contributions to a superannuation scheme (76% of men and 59% of women) (ABS 2020). In 1997, 12% of retired Australians aged 45 and over stated that superannuation was their main source of income, compared with 23% in 2018–19 (ABS 2020; AIHW 2015). It is likely that many older Australians were working before superannuation schemes (like those that align with the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992) became mandatory and nationwide.

Older people’s most significant asset is often their home. For more information on older Australians and home ownership, see Housing and living arrangements page.

Where do I go for more information?

For more information on the income and finances of older Australians, see:

• AIHW Australia’s welfare 2021
• AIHW Older Australian clients of Specialist Homelessness Services