MORE Australians will be dying than being born by 2065, a new national report shows.
The 2026 Intergenerational Report, released by Treasurer Jim Chalmers on September 21, pitches a roadmap to navigate global transitions, including an Al revolution and population ageing.
Sydney auxiliary Bishop Tony Percy, bishop-delegate for life, family and marriage, said Australia's numbers were part of a wider story of global population collapse that "has been known for some time".
Data from a 2024 United Nations report showed most projections estimating global populations peaking in the latter half of this century before declining.
These projections were spread unevenly across the world with countries like China and Russia expected to half in size by 2100, while countries like Nigeria were expected to continue to grow.
Bishop Percy said rapid fertility collapses in nations like South Korea, at 0.8 births per woman, demonstrated how difficult birth rates were to reverse once lost.
He said a significant contributor to Australia's downward fertility trend was falling marriage rates, which the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported at hit historic lows of 3.9 marriages per 1000 population.
The Intergenerational Report did not track or forecast marriage data, but attributed declining fertility to broad social shifts, including "delays in forming partnerships and having children," as well as longer periods spent in education, career establishment and people living longer with parents.
The report said postponed childbearing led directly to smaller family sizes with nearly half of the projected drop in fertility driven by fewer couples having a third or subsequent child.
Bishop Percy said the Church must champion marriage, educating young people especially on what marriage was, why it mattered and how it contributed to the social order.
He said the Sacrament of Matrimony stood alongside Holy Orders as sacraments at " the service of communion" and the common good, adding that matrimony literally meant, "mother making".
"From Abraham and Sarah right through to now, which is a 4000-year history, the churches understood that marriage is for family and family is for society," he said.
"If you want to raise and promote and protect great societies, you've got to have a focus on marriage and family," he said.
Bishop Percy said there were several structural barriers for young people starting families.
The Intergenerational Report highlighted that long-term house price increases had effectively locked a quarter-million young households out of home ownership compared to 1980s levels.
Bishop Percy said issues like prohibitive property and land prices in Australia made long-term domestic commitments increasingly difficult, which affected marriage and birth rates.
The report, which historically had an overt political lean, highlighted policies from the Albanese Government's 2026 Budget in smoothing out issues caused by disparities in intergenerational equity.
The Coalition argues that the report exposes the failure of the government's economic model, claiming that persistent inflation, high interest rates and growing public debt were the true intergenerational burdens facing young families.
To avert a long-term economic slump, the Intergenerational Report highlighted initiatives such as cutting income taxes boosting housing supply and reforming property concessions.
The Coalition instead advocated for structural tax relief – such as indexing tax thresholds via a "Tax Back Guarantee" – to permanently prevent bracket creep, arguing that Labor's proposed Cuts would quickly be eaten up by ongoing inflation.
Bishop Percy said tax burdens on working families had reached "ridiculous" levels.
He said reducing taxation burdens on workers would incentivise people to form families and feel confident having children.
He said there should be material benefits for having children "because this is the way you build a society".
Along with the decrease of Australia's population, the Intergenerational Report also shows productivity growth is likely to fall from an average of 3 per cent to 2 per cent, relying on an underlying figure of 1.2 per cent, which the Coalition argues is unrealistic.
Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson said the report assumes a " miracle productivity turnaround" after a five per cent fall in productivity since the Albanese Government took office.
Launching the report, Mr Chalmers said " the economy of the next 40 years will be built with Al-enabled services, smarter technologies, new clean industries powered by cheaper energy, and more secure partnerships in the world".
Mr Chalmers said the Government was " acting now" to " maximise the opportunities and minimise the serious risks" of Al.
While Bishop Percy said Al would be a valuable tool for the future of humanity, the main resource that any economy had was its people.
" It's the power, the energy, the grace, the intelligence inside of people," he said.
Bishop Percy insisted Australia should gather its " best minds" with government, like the Hawke-era economic summits, to form a long-term plan with a 20 to 30 year outlook to confront falling fertility rates.