Specialist care
Specialist and hospital care become more regular.
SourceDepartment of Health
Silver Birch row · ages 72 to 81
Specialist and hospital care become more regular.
Gifts to children and grandchildren are common.
Pension income is steady but fixed against rising prices.
Heating and cooling costs bite on fixed incomes.
Concessions and emergency funds protect against surprises.
Search these names on the department sites below. Links go to each department's home page.
Figures from published research for the age groups that cover 72–73. Sources often publish wider age groups, so the group shown is the one that includes these ages. They describe groups of people, not any one person. Checked 23 October 2026.
2025 Consumer Payments Survey. Share of payments made using cards.
30 June 2024. Per account, not per person, because many people hold more than one account. Median is the middle account; average is pulled up by large balances.
2019–20 financial year. By age of the household's reference person, as shown in the ABS graph. The ABS page does not say whether the values are averages or medians, so treat them as indicative.
Census 2021. Owners with and without a mortgage combined.
Census 2021. Share of people in the age group who lived alone.
2022. Share of people in the age group who provide informal care. About 11.9% of all Australians living in households (3.0 million) were carers.
2022. Share of people in the age group with disability. Overall 21.4% of Australians (5.5 million) had disability in 2022.
2024–25. Share of retirees aged 45 and over who retired at this age.
2020–2022. Remaining years of life, on average, for someone who has reached 65.
31 March 2023. Share of the age group receiving the Age Pension.
April 2021. Labour force participation of people aged 65 and over.
Dollar figures are in the dollars of the year shown. Average and median are not the same: the median is the middle value. Not financial advice.
Illustrative gross incomes: lower about $50,000, middle about $100,000, higher about $200,000 a year. For ages under 18, read these as household incomes. For retirement ages, read them as lower, middle and higher income and savings. They are examples, not official brackets.
Fixed income means rising bills matter most. Concessions and hardship schemes are important.
A balanced budget with some spare. Health and home costs are the main swing factors.
Capital supports lifestyle, gifting and care choices. Estate planning continues.