Jim PenmanCEO, Jim's Group · CEO and Founder of Australia's largest franchise, Jim's Group

Is Australia's birth-rate beyond fixing?

30 Aug 2026 · 0 min

Watch on YouTube

0:24

In this segment of his YouTube video, Jim Penman examines Australia's declining birth rate, noting that while it is falling, it remains higher than Japan's at roughly 1.5 children per woman versus Japan's about 1. He argues that Australia's openness to immigration is a crucial factor that continues to drive rapid population growth, meaning the country is not facing the same demographic decline as Japan as long as immigration remains strong.

Is Australia heading the same way as Japan? Australia's heading the same way as Japan, but not quite as fast. 2 reasons. First, our birth rate's not quite as catastrophically low. We're like about 1.5 or something like that compared with their, you know, around about 1. But also because we are very accepting of immigrants. So in actual fact, the Australian population is still rising and rising quite fast. So as long as there's people that can come to Australia, then we're not going to die out.