Forget the baby boom. Australia is facing an elderly explosion.

• Longer lives and fewer babies are being blamed for the greying of the population.
• New figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show the number of people aged 85 or more has skyrocketed 156 per cent in 20 years.
• There are 65 per cent more Aussies aged between 65 and 84 now compared to 20 years ago. The average Aussie is also getting older. The median is now 35.4 years, a jump of 5.8 years since 1981.
• The median age in Victoria is 35.5 years, giving us the country's fourth oldest population behind South Australia, Tasmania and New South Wales.
• The Northern Territory has the youngest population, with a median age of 29.3 years.

Herald Sun - Nikki Protyniak