One of the components of the Australian Social Trends update released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics finds a further narrowing of life average expectancy between males and females.

 

Males born in the period between 2007 and 2009 are now expected to live to 79.3 years, while females born in the same period are expected to live to 83.9 The gap between the two gender's life expectancy has narrowed by nearly 7 years since the records were taken in the late 1970's and early 80's.

 

The increased life expectancy comes as the country experiences a steady decline in traffic accident mortality rates, increased quality of health care, decreased smoking rates and overall improvement in diet.

 

However, the report also found significant discrepancies between the life expectancy of Indigenous Australian and Torres Straight Islanders, finding the average expected age of males to be 67.2, 11.5 years less than non-Indigenous males. Life expectancy at birth for Indigenous women is also significantly below the national average, at 72.9 years or 9.7 years less than life expectancy at birth for non-Indigenous females.

 

The increased life expectancy of the general Australian population is associated with an increase in spending on health and aged services, with the Australian Government currently spending 4.0% of the GDP on health services. This figure is expected to rise to 7.1% in 2049-50. Aged care currently accounts for 0.8% of the GDP, but is expected to rise to 1.8% over the same timeframe.

 

For further information, the full report can be found on the ABS website

http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features10Mar+2011