Investigating the spatial distribution of the elderly and its implications for service provision in Adelaide Metropolitan Area

South Australia's population structure is set to change substantially over the next 50 years as the ageing of the baby boomer generation substantially increases the number of elderly households. Elderly people are less likely to travel long distances or make complex trips and consequently their level of access to services is often less than that of younger people living in the same area. An appropriate residential location may therefore be more critical in old age than at any other time in life. This research uses GIS software to quantify twenty variables that the literature suggests impact elderly residential location decisions. It then examines how well each of these variables explains the current distribution of Adelaide's elderly population. The focus of the research is on the impact of service accessibility on elderly residential distribution. The results are used to build a conceptual framework of elderly migration that can assist decision makers in State Government, as well as other stakeholders, who endeavour to strategically improve the quality of life of elderly people in Metropolitan Adelaide. The research finds that the distribution of people aged 75 years and over is explained better by an area's access to services than it is by socio-economic, migration or housing related data. The results enable the importance of specific services to be ranked for four elderly age groups (55-64, 65-74, 75-84 and 85+).