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.

Latest findings

Ex-serving men aged under 30 had a suicide rate 2.2 times that of Australian men the same age, for 2014–2016 In 2016, the leading cause of death for females was dementia and Alzheimer disease (11%) In 2016, 50% of deaths for people aged less than 75 were potentially avoidable deaths Over the period 1907 to 2016, the age-standardised death rate fell by 74% For 2002 to 2016 ex-serving men had an age-adjusted suicide rate 18% higher than for all Australian men In 2016, there were 158,504 deaths registered in Australia In 2016, there were over 26,600 potentially avoidable deaths In 2001–2016 there were 373 suicides in serving, reserve & ex-serving ADF personnel with 1 day of service since 2001 Potentially avoidable death rates fell by 45% between 1997 and 2016 (from 193 to 105 deaths per 100,000 population) In 2016, child deaths rates (ages 0–4 years) were 36% lower than child death rates in 2006 In 2002–2016 the age-adjusted suicide rate was lower for serving and reserve men than for all Australian men In 2016, the leading cause of death for males was coronary heart disease (13%)

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Highlights