| Summary: | The aged and community care sectors in Australia and New Zealand are widely expected to expand rapidly over the coming decades. The forces that have led to ageing in Australia and New Zealand is the lower probability of death at all ages and, to a lesser extent, the weakening of the social and economic drivers for large families are common among many countries in the region. In these two countries, however, they are taking hold at such a rate, that they are likely to move into an entirely unfamiliar demographic environment. Existing aged care services will not be able to deliver the quantity and quality of services needed over the coming decades, without the workforce required to do so. Australia and New Zealand's nearest neighbors, the Pacific Island Countries (PICs), face a vastly different demographic challenge. The overall population of the PICs is expected to grow by some fifty percent over the next twenty years. The findings of this research indicate that demographic trends in both Australia and New Zealand are causing sectoral changes in aged care which require more skilled workers to match growing demand
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