This table lists (from the bottom) the seven most disadvantaged suburbs on the Gold Coast. The data is taken from the 2016 census and the criteria known as SEIFA (Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas). This criteria collects together data across a wide range of indices such as low income, low levels of education. employment in low skill jobs, etc., which together give an indication of the social and economic disadvantage within a suburb. The Gold Coast score of 1018 is well above the Australian, Queensland, South East Queensland, and Greater Brisbane scores of disadvantage.
The seven listed suburbs, ranging from Southport North to Biggera Waters, are the suburbs with the greatest level of disadvantage on the Gold Coast.
One feature that is quite noticeable for these suburbs is that they are all coastal suburbs. It is well known that coastal suburbs on the Gold Coast have a high levels of population density (measured as persons per hectare).
The figures on the right of the table are the 2016 census figures for population density for each of these suburbs. There are eleven suburbs that have a population density of greater than twenty persons per hectare. Six of those suburbs are in the above table.
There is a clear correlation between high levels of disadvantage on the Gold Coast and high levels of population density.
Of course, not every example of disadvantage is correlated to high population density as the example of Coombabah makes clear, but it is significant that the six of the seven most disadvantaged suburbs have high levels of population density. This is an important fact to consider in planning future high rise development on the Gold Coast.