IT’S RAINING MEN
Territory women continue to be extremely outnumbered
THE latest population data has proven once again Darwin is a sausage fest.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data has revealed Darwin is the only capital city in which there are more men than women.
For every 100 women there are 107.9 men while the ratio for the rest of the NT stands at 101.8 men for 100 women.
The lifestyle and type of work up here have been highlighted as factors that attract more men to the city.
Charles Darwin University demography and growth planning research associate George Tan said the high ratio of men in the Territory had historically been this way for some time.
Dr Tan said the Boundless Possible campaign was targeted at attracting young women to the NT, however it had missed the mark.
“It doesn’t change the fact that with more men than women we will have lower fertility numbers,” he said.
“It’s a scenario where as a population we won’t be able to add to our population number naturally and we will continue to shrink.
“Even if we have babies here, there are stories that they leave and they want to go back home to have that family support.”
He said there was no magic solution to entice women up here and get them to stay, but a whole raft of policies were required.
“Across all governments we always try to attract people, migrants and interstaters, but we don’t focus on retention policy,” Dr Tan said. “I think that is something that’s under researched.”
Howard Springs has more than triple the number of men as there are women, however, the statistics are influenced by the fact the Darwin Correctional Centre is in the area.
Local Howard Springs Tavern bar flies Kevin “Cowboy” Pyers and Kevin McCoy have not noticed the skewed ratio.
Mind you, one has been married for 50 years – separated for half that – and the other is thinking about one day settling down.
Cowboy, who has lived in Howard Springs for the past 41 years, said he probably missed his moment in finding a partner while out working remote jobs but might one day give it crack.
Mr McCoy said Howard Springs was a community and blokes were probably attracted to the rural lifestyle.
“I think it’s a working man’s suburb,” he said.
The suburb with the lowest sex ratios was Mount Johns in Alice Springs with 86 men to 100 women.
The stats also revealed the NT has a population younger than the rest of Australia with more than a third of people aged under 25.