Australia's latest Intergenerational Report flags slower population growth and puts AI front and centre.
Why it matters: The report is a long-range guide for budgets, labor markets and migration policy. It also frames AI as a potential productivity lift as population growth slows.
- Treasury released the 2026 Intergenerational Report on 21 September 2026 - the seventh in the series.
- The report projects Australia's economy and budget out to 2065-66 and adds a new section on AI.
- Treasury says population growth should slow to about 0.9% a year over the next four decades, from about 1.4% over the past 40 years.
- Deaths are forecast to outnumber births in the 2060s, while the population still rises to 39.3 million by 2065-66.
Treasury released Australia's 2026 Intergenerational Report on 21 September 2026, mapping the economy and budget out to 2065-66.
The report adds a new section on the artificial intelligence revolution, alongside geopolitical fragmentation, energy transition, ageing and the care economy, and industrial transformation.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has cast AI as the defining technology for the next four decades, saying the report would put it front and centre. In a pre-release opinion piece, he said Treasury analysis described AI as the first substantive, credible global productivity growth accelerant in almost two decades.
On demographics, Treasury says population growth is expected to slow to about 0.9% a year over the next four decades, down from about 1.4% over the previous 40 years. Reuters reported the report forecasts deaths will outnumber births in the 2060s, a first for the intergenerational series.
Even so, Australia is still projected to grow, reaching 39.3 million people by 2065-66, largely supported by net overseas migration, according to SBS.
ABC reported the report says younger Australians are likely to work longer and face tougher housing and wealth accumulation conditions than previous generations.
By the numbers
- 0.9% - expected annual population growth over the next four decades, down from about 1.4% over the previous 40 years
- 39.3 million - projected population in 2065-66
- 2060s - decade when deaths are expected to outnumber births for the first time in the series
Yes, but: The report is a long-horizon fiscal roadmap, not a crisis document, and population still grows over the period thanks in part to net overseas migration.