As the nation ages, and children make up a smaller proportion of the population, the country is confronted with one of its biggest policy and economic challenges: how do we care for the elderly?

Despite increased focus on the quality and funding of residential aged care in recent years, there’s been insufficient discussion about how we address this complicated problem.

That’s likely because there are no easy solutions. It’s not something a single election cycle, or even a single government, can alleviate overnight.

But we can unpack how we got to this point, what it means for Australia and what might help.

From birth to death, we all need to be cared for, but as years of headlines have shown, Australia’s care economy faces big challenges. In this four-part series, experts examine how the country’s increasingly for-profit models of care and the government policy that spurred them on are failing those they’re supposed to protect – and what can be done about it.

A national success story

Technological advancements and increased gender equality have contributed to increased longevity and improvements in reproductive health access. Our social success has led to demographic consequences.

Australians are living longer and not replacing themselves, leading to an ageing population.

People aged 65 and over now comprise 18% of the Australian population, making the nation’s population aged and on its way to super aged.

Super aged, declining fertility

Forty-five years ago, older people represented 10% of the Australian population. The pace of ageing has........

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