Appreciating every bit of our uniqueness

THE average Tasmanian is likely to be middle-aged to older, have a shorter commute to work and be less stressed than people on the mainland.

That is the view of demographer Bernard Salt, through research commissioned by the Mercury for its Future Tasmania series.

Mr Salt said while the idea of a “typical” Tasmanian was a theoretical construct, the research clearly showed the state’s fastestgrowing population cohort was retirees.

“The average Tasmanian is older than the average mainlander,’’ he said.

“This is partly because Tasmania loses its youth across Bass Strait.

“It is also a favoured destination for retirees from the mainland and I suspect many would be Tasmanians coming home.

“The average Tasmanian does not commute as far to work, is probably less likely to be suffering anxiety and mental stress because of the pressures of work and living and paying a high mortgage,’’ he said.

Mr Salt said Tasmania had not had the same influences of international migration as places like Melbourne.

“It’s a little older, it’s a little more Anglo,’’ he said.

“You could go to any collection of half a million people on the Australian continent and point to how they are different to the Australian average.

“The mainland is not homogenous, it’s a jumble of people who have more challenging conditions, and some that have far more advantageous conditions.

“The eastern suburbs of Sydney or remote communities are more challenged than parts of Tasmania.

“You could argue Tasmania fits in that sort of midrange on a number of indicators and in many respects, you could say that gives us our uniqueness, our quality of life.”

Mr Salt said he believed Tasmanians appreciated the uniqueness of living in the state.

“They’re interested in finding that balance between work, family, social commitments,’’ he said.

Based on the results from the most recent Census conducted in 2016, the Australian Bureau of Statistics described the “typical” Tasmanian as being a 42-yearold mother.

She was married with two children, lived in a home with three bedrooms, and the household had two vehicles. She had completed Year 12 and did between five and 14 hours of unpaid domestic work per week.

In the Mercury’s Future Tasmania survey of more than 2500 people, 71 per cent said they wanted to spend the rest of their lives in the state.