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 2019, there were 169,301 deaths registered in Australia

In 2019, the leading cause of death for males was coronary heart disease (12%)

Over the period 1907 to 2019, the age-standardised death rate fell by 74%

In 2019, the leading cause of death for females was dementia including Alzheimer disease (12%)

In 2019, child deaths rates (aged 0–4) were 27% lower than child death rates in 2009 (76 compared to 105 per 100,000)

In 2019, 48% of deaths for people aged less than 75 were potentially avoidable deaths

Highlights