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Highlights
- During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increase in life expectancy in Australia, as per the ABS.
- Australian males are expected to live for 81.3 years and females for 85.4 years.
- Australia has the third-highest life expectancy in the world, the ABS said.
A recent media release by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) states that life expectancy in Australia has increased in the 2019-2021 period. Australian males are expected to live for 81.3 years and Australian females for 85.4 years, an increase of 1.6 years and 1.2 years, respectively, over the past decade, as per the ABS report.
Australia falls among the few countries that showed increases in life expectancy during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report states that as per UN estimates Australia now has the third-highest life expectancy in the world, after Monaco and Japan.
A 65-year-old Australian male, at present, can expect to live another 20.3 years, while a female can expect to live another 23 years – longer than their life expectancy at birth. In terms of life expectancy world rankings, Australian males are ranked second, while the females come fifth.
A glance at Australian life tables by the ABS
Australia has witnessed better improvement in life expectancy for males than for females. For males, life expectancy has increased by 1.6 years, and for females, it has increased by 1.2 years over the past decade. In addition to this, the gap between the life expectancy of males and females in Australia was 5.9 years about 30 years ago, which was down to 4.1 years in 2019-2021.
Commenting on the increase, Emily Walter, the demography director of ABS, said:
Image Source: © 2022 Kalkine Media ®
Data Source: ABS media release dated 8 November 2022
State- and territory-wise life expectancy
While the Australian Capital Territory reported the highest life expectancy, the Northern Territory reported the lowest. In the Australian Capital Territory, life expectancy for males and females was 82.7 years and 86.3 years, respectively. In the Northern Territory, males are expected to live for 76.3 years and females for 81 years. Life expectancy in the Northern Territory was 5 years lower for men and 4.4 years lower for women in comparison to the life expectancy of Australian males (81.3 years) and females (85.4 years).
Region-wise life expectancy
Life expectancy at birth was reported to be higher in the capital city statistical area level 4 (SA4s) than in remote SA4s. While Sydney-Baulkham Hills and Hawkesbury’s life expectancy at birth was the highest for males (85.6 years), Sydney-Ryde had the highest life expectancy for females (88.4 years).
