Overview

Life expectancy is one of the most commonly used measures of overall health of a population. It is expressed as either the number of years a newborn baby is expected to live, or the expected years of life remaining for a person at a given age, and is estimated from the death rates in a population. Examining causes, patterns and trends in death can also help explain differences and changes in the health of a population, contribute to the evaluation of health strategies and interventions, and guide planning and policy-making.

More reports and statistics on life expectancy & deaths can be found under Burden of disease and Injury.

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Latest findings

In 2020, 49% of deaths for people aged less than 75 in Australia were potentially avoidable deaths

Potentially avoidable age-standardised death rates in Australia fell by 42% between 2000 and 2020

In 2020, there were 26,995 potentially avoidable deaths in Australia

Over 5,000 falls deaths in 2019–20 among older Australians

133,000 falls hospitalisations in 2019–20 among older Australians

Over half of hospitalised fall injuries occurred in the home

Highlights

Females born in 2018–2020 can expect to live around 4 years longer than males—85.3 years compared with 81.2 years
161,300deaths were registered in Australia in 2020
2 in 3 deaths registered were of people aged 75 and over
Dementia including Alzheimer’s disease was the leading cause of death for females (12%)
A 76% fall in the age-standardised death rate was recorded between 1907 and 2020
Indigenous Australians born in 2015–2017 can expect to live around 8 years less than non-Indigenous Australians
1 in 4 deaths were due to cardiovascular diseases
Coronary heart disease was the leading cause of death for males (12%)
49% of deaths among people aged less than 75 were potentially avoidable deaths
Remote and Very remote areas had age-standardised mortality rates 1.2 and 1.5 times as high as Major cities, respectively, in 2020