Allowances recipients by age group⁸

In 2008, the average age of allowances recipients dropped by 2 percent to 26.5 years.  This was mostly due to a marked increase in the proportion of allowances received by students under the age of 25 years.

Figure 3: Student allowances recipients by main age group⁹

In 1999, around 60 percent of allowances recipients were under the age of 25 years.  By 2004, the proportion had dropped to 54 percent.  In 2008, the proportion returned to the 1999 levels, with 60 percent of allowances recipients under the age of 25years and 40 percent aged 25 years and over.

Figure 4: Distribution of student allowances recipients by age group

The decrease in the proportion of allowances recipients under the age of 25 years between 1999 and 2004 was due to the decrease in the proportion of this age group among those eligible for student allowances.  This resulted from the fact that the parental income limits were frozen over that time, while average parental incomes were rising.  In addition, there was a gradual ageing of the student population during that period.

The difference in the average annual allowances for the main age groups was relatively stable between 2005 and 2007, at around $2,000.  However in 2008 the average annual allowance of a student aged under 25 years increased by 1.9% to $5,400 while that for a student aged 25 years and over dropped by 6.7% to $7,000. These changes lead to a decrease in the gap, with a student under the age of 25 years receiving about $1,600 less than a student aged 25 years and over.

Footnotes

8. Age of allowance recipients as at 31 December
   
9. Note that the Y-axis starts at 30 percent.