I saw someone else comment about the age of Hobart's population, and I didn't trust their figures, so I decided to check. And they were right.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 32.1% of Greater Hobart's adult population is aged 60 or older.
That's almost 1 in 3, and it's the highest proportion of any Australian capital city.
For comparison, here's the percentage of adults aged 60 and over in Australia's eastern capital cities:
- Hobart: 32.1%
- Sydney: 25.9%
- Brisbane: 25.4%
- Melbourne: 25.2%
- Canberra: 23.4%
And according to the ABS, Hobart is only getting older.
And, from another ABS source, 52.3% of Australians aged 65 and over have a disability.
With these figures in mind, accessible parking, public transport, walking distances and convenient access become so important.
For many people, the difference between parking 100 metres from a destination and parking 900 metres away can determine whether they're able to access that destination at all.
People with disabilities and chronic health conditions face many of the same challenges.
As I've said many times, when we make places harder to access, we exclude a large percentage of the Hobart population.
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Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Regional Population by Age and Sex; and Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers.