Life expectancy
Definition: The number of years that a baby born in a given year can expect to live, if age-specific death rates do not change.
Note: These data refer to the 3-year period ending in the year shown (for example, ‘2016’ data apply to babies born in the period 2014 to 2016).
Sources: ABS 2013e, 2013h, 2014b, 2015b, 2016e, 2017f; Table S1.4.11.
- Life expectancy for a boy born in Australia between 2014 and 2016 was 80.4 years, and for a girl, 84.6 years.
- Over the decade since 2006, the overall life expectancy at birth increased slowly – by 1.7 years for males and 1.1 years for females.
- The estimated life expectancy for an Indigenous boy born between 2010 and 2012 was 69.1 – 10.6 years lower than for a non-Indigenous boy. For Indigenous girls, the equivalent life expectancy was estimated to be 73.7 – 9.5 years lower than for non-Indigenous girls.
For more information, see Chapter 1.3 ‘How healthy are Australians?’; Chapter 6.3 'Indigenous child mortality and life expectancy'.