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

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

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Highlights