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

The top 3 causes of injury deaths in 2018–19 were falls, suicide and accidental poisoning

83% of injury deaths due to choking and suffocation were for people aged 65 and over

For drowning deaths, there was an average annual decrease in rate between 2009–10 and 2018–19 of 3.2%

There were over 544,000 cases of hospitalisated injury in 2018–19

There were over 13,700 injury deaths in 2018–19

The top 3 causes of hospitalised injury in 2018–19 were falls, contact with objects, and transport accidents

Highlights

Females born in 2017–2019 can expect to live around 4 years longer than males—85.0 years compared with 80.9 years
169,301 deaths were registered in Australia in 2019
2 in 3 deaths registered were of people aged 75 and over
Dementia including Alzheimer disease was the leading cause of death for females (12%)
A 74% fall in the age-standardised death rate was recorded between 1907 and 2019
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 circulatory diseases
Coronary heart disease was the leading cause of death for males (12%)
48% of deaths for people aged less than 75 were potentially avoidable deaths
Remote and Very remote areas had mortality rates 1.2 and 1.4 times as high as Major cities, respectively, in 2019