New research reveals surprise twist in Australia’s brutal Covid lockdowns

We’ve been in the grip of the devastating pandemic for almost two years – but new research has revealed an unexpected upside.

Australia’s overall life expectancy has increased during the Covid-19 pandemic. Picture: David Gray/AFP

While Covid-19 has claimed millions of lives across the globe, new research has revealed many Australians have actually benefited from the public health crisis.

According to an Australian National University study recently published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, our life expectancy increased during the first year of the pandemic.

Sadly, it was a very different story for much of the world, with average lifespans shrinking during the same period in many other nations.

One of those was the US, which saw its life expectancy drop by 1.7 years for women and 2.2 years for men following a number of deadly Covid waves.

But in Australia, life expectancy for both sexes jumped by eight months, or 0.7 years, from 2019 to 2020, a result attributed to our low Covid rates alongside a drop in other infectious diseases such as the flu and pneumonia during lockdowns, with deaths caused by those illnesses falling by 20 per cent.

The number of road accidents also fell as countless Australians remained at home for months on end, while researchers also believe the drop in infectious diseases also had a welcome impact on cancer, heart attacks and strokes.

It’s a significant increase on the expected average annual increase in longevity of 0.09-0.14 years, which was seen from 2015 to 2019.

Australia’s life expectancy actually increased during the pandemic. Picture: Brendan Radke

The study examined the average life expectancy across 29 nations, with Australia recording the top results, followed by Denmark and Norway, which saw life expectancy grow by 0.1 and 0.2 years for females and males respectively.

The authors cited Australia’s swift reaction to the emerging pandemic by shutting borders and locking down the population as reasons for our success, compared with other countries which were slower to respond.

“Australia was in a unique position to be able to close borders to the rest of the world,” study co-author Professor Vladimir Canudas-Romo said.

“Now with the strong compliance on vaccinations, we are likely to be one of the safest places in the world.

“During the 1918 Spanish flu, attempts were made to close borders. Yet, once ports opened, the lack of a vaccination meant the virus spread with fatal effects.

“With modern-day vaccines, Australia has been able to escape this deadly fate.”

Study co-author Associate Professor Brian Houle said it remained to be seen whether the trend would continue post-pandemic.

“It’s hard to make a long-term assessment for this unusual increase,” he said.

“If working from home remains popular, with fewer people on the road commuting at peak times, that might result in reduced road accidents compared to before the Covid-19 pandemic.”

The study added to previous Oxford University research which examined life expectancy in 29 nations, but which did not include Australia as data was not available at the time.

Since then, it has emerged that Australia had just 898 Covid deaths in 2020.

Australia’s tough lockdowns saw us beat the rest of the world when it came to life expectancy. Picture: Alex Coppel

In November 2021, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) also released data which proved our life expectancy had reached a record high.

According to the ABS figures, a baby boy is now expected to live to 81.2 years and a girl to 85.3 years.

“Babies born today have the highest estimated life expectancy ever recorded in Australia,” ABS demography director Beidar Cho said at the time.

Australians have a higher life expectancy than comparable countries such as New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the USA and lower life expectancy than Japan, Singapore and Switzerland.

Male life expectancy at birth reached 81.2 years in 2018-2020, increasing from 80.9 in 2017-2019. Female life expectancy also increased to 85.3 years from 85.0 in the previous year. ­

Life expectancy for males has improved at a faster rate than that for females.

The Australian Capital Territory recorded the highest male and female life expectancy (82.1 years and 85.9 years).

The Northern Territory recorded the lowest life expectancy for both males (76.2 years) and females (81.0 years).