12th May 2006 
 
Young people are leaving the state due to competitive parents in upper middle class Adelaide according to Futurist and author of The Big Picture, Bernard Salt.  
 
Adelaide is experiencing a loss of Generation Y, (14 - 28 years of age) because parents are not placing enough value on seeing their children succeed in South Australia.  
 
Mr Salt said there was a polite game being played by upper middle class baby boomers, aged between 44 - 59 years of age, whereby they are judging their own success through their children’s professional success outside the state.  
 
“You hear comments …like my child works for Macquarie Bank in Sydney or my child is a banker in London. Baby boomers must stop this sort of behaviour as they are showing they value having their children overseas or interstate rather than here in Adelaide,” he said.  
 
“We should be seeing young Australian’s intellect and talent retained locally, not lost to larger markets - particularly not to markets overseas.  
 
“This is a real issue for us to face. It is quite confronting to accept that the brightest young Generation Ys may not see their future here - in fact maybe not even in Australia,” he said.  
 
Mr Salt said that Adelaide had a duty to lead the way on retaining youth, as it has been dealing with the loss of youth for longer than any other state.  
 
He said people within generation Y are often the only child in a wealthy family. They have no fear of the future. They have not witnessed recession and have only seen the economy grow and prosper. They have a very global perspective on life and will probably the first generation that would willingly leave Australia and live abroad - because they don’t believe Australia is the best place in the world to live.  
 
His comments were not limited to youth. He also nationally forecasted an increase in death rates and decreased fertility rate, which he believes will result in a declined population by 2020 - which will ultimately make the economy convulse.  
 
He said young people were becoming less willing to settle down and have children.  
 
“The average Aussie bride has aged eight years from 1971 - 2002. That is in 1971 she was 21 when she got married however by 2002 she was 29. Mr Salt believes this has happened because of the great Australian ‘Man Drought’,” he said.  
 
Nationally, in 1976 there were 939,400 men and 882,200 women. In 2004 there were 1.479,4000 men and 1.499,500 women.  
 
Mr Salt said young people in Adelaide looking to find a partner should consider Whitmore Square, which is the most highly populated suburb of bachelors in Adelaide; and Hyde Park for single women.  
 
Bernard Salt is available for comment on 0404 875 705.  
 
Media enquiries, please contact Rebbecca Stewart on 0410 151 931.