Australia has a generally positive future outlook due to a stable, wealthy economy, strong population growth, and high living standards, but faces significant long-term challenges like climate change impacts (fires, extreme weather) and ensuring sustainable economic diversification beyond mining, with future success relying on addressing these issues and leveraging renewable energy and technological innovation.
An ageing population, escalating pressures in the health system and climate change pose long-term challenges for Australia's economic growth, living standards and government finances. Failure to act now to tackle intergenerational challenges will result in severe economic, fiscal and environmental consequences.
Finance experts believe that Australia is well on its way to being cashless, and that the change could come as soon as 2030.
Quality of life and lifestyle advantages in Australia
Australia scores higher than the UK on almost every global quality of life ranking. Beyond better weather, the numbers back it up: health, education, safety, environment, and purchasing power.
However, life expectancy at birth will be almost 90 by then. Australia will be bigger, older, denser and even more multicultural in 20 years time! Some 'Aussie Dreams' will have disappeared such as the 'quarter acre block' and along with it the Hills Hoist garden shed and enough space for a game of backyard cricket.
Australia is unlikely to become entirely uninhabitable soon, but climate change is making large areas, especially in the north, extremely hot and potentially unlivable under higher warming scenarios (around 3°C), straining infrastructure, impacting agriculture, and displacing vulnerable populations, while coastal areas face rising sea levels and severe erosion, making parts of cities and towns uninsurable and at risk. The primary threats are extreme heatwaves, bushfires, droughts, floods, and sea-level rise, disproportionately affecting regional, Indigenous, and disadvantaged communities, forcing significant adaptation and threatening the nation's food security.
By the time American Samoa says goodbye to 2025, a lot of the rest of the world will already be firmly in 2026. It'll be 6 a.m. Eastern on New Year's Day when American Samoa joins the rest of us in 2026.
Yes, $70k is a fair salary in Australia, often near the median income, making it a decent living for a single person, especially outside major cities, but it can be tight in expensive areas or for those with high living costs like mortgages, with full-time averages now closer to $90k-$100k.
Cons:
Australia could soon be entirely cashless say some experts
Some experts are predicting notes and coins may be unusable in a few years time. A recent Reserve Bank survey shows consumer payments made in cash have fallen from about 70 per cent in 2007 to just 13 per cent in 2022.
Sweden is widely considered the country closest to being cashless, with a significant majority of transactions being digital, driven by mobile apps like Swish and high trust in digital infrastructure, though Norway, Finland, and South Korea are also leading the global shift. While some sources predicted Sweden would be fully cashless by 2025, the central bank is now pushing for cash protections, acknowledging its continued need for inclusivity, even as cash use falls below 5% in many top nations.
After 2030 in Australia, petrol (internal combustion engine - ICE) cars won't disappear but will face a significant decline as the market shifts towards electric and hybrid vehicles, with the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) leading the charge by aiming to ban new ICE sales by 2035, mirroring global trends, though the Federal government has yet to mandate a national ban, focusing instead on emissions standards and EV infrastructure, meaning a mix of fuel types will dominate, but petrol cars will become less common and potentially harder to finance or sell used.
By 2050, China is projected to be the world's richest country by total GDP, leading a significant shift where emerging economies like India, Indonesia, Brazil, and Russia rise to challenge traditional giants, with the U.S. potentially falling to third, while Singapore might become the richest per capita (PPP), though these predictions depend heavily on technological progress, political stability, and growth rates.
Life in Australia is generally considered very good, with a high standard of living, excellent healthcare and education, strong job markets, and a great outdoor lifestyle, though high housing costs and geographic isolation can be downsides, making "better" a subjective mix of these factors depending on individual priorities.
However, the "First World" is generally thought of as the capitalist, industrial, wealthy, and developed countries. This definition includes the countries of North America and Western Europe, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.
Our round-up of the best countries to live in the world
Finland is the world's happiest country, according to the World Happiness Report, offering retirees (and others) peace, safety, and balance. You can collect U.S. Social Security benefits while living in Finland.
Australia has a high standard of living supported by an educated workforce and a high level of innovation. The quality of education, healthcare, transport, infrastructure and government services in Australia are all above international averages.
The average Australian full-time worker is now earning more than $2000 a week for the first time in history. New figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show the average ordinary full-time weekly earnings for adults hit $2011.40 before tax in May.
How to avoid paying higher-rate tax
Australia has high demand for workers in Healthcare (nurses, aged/disability carers, allied health), Tech (software engineers, cybersecurity, data analysts), Construction & Trades (managers, electricians, fitters, civil engineers), and Education (teachers, early childhood educators) due to an aging population, infrastructure projects, and digital transformation, with roles like Chefs, Project Managers, and Automotive Technicians also sought after across various industries.
The Argument: The G-Zero lack of international leadership, the report forecast, would create vacuums that allow for greater geopolitical conflict, disruption, instability, while emboldening rogue-state and non-state actors to create new risks in outer space, under the sea, and in international airspace.
The world has entered the 1st January 2025 (by Kiritimati, Christmas Island, Kiribati time)
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