Australian babies can expect longest lives yet

The latest research reveals the life expectancy gap for males and females, and the areas to seek out for a long innings.

Male life expectancy is slowly but surely catching up to females. Picture: Supplied

Life expectancy in Australia has never been higher, new Australian Bureau of Statistics data reveals.

And male life expectancy is slowly but surely catching up to females, the data shows.

A baby boy born in Australia today can expect to live to 81.2 years and a girl to 85.3 years.

This puts Australia fifth in the world for males and eighth for girls, sixth overall.

“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” ABS demography director Beider Cho said.

The difference in life expectancy between the genders in Australia is closing relatively fast. In 1990 life was 73.9 years for males and 80.1 years for females, a gap of 6.2 years. The gap has now narrowed to 4.1 years in 2018-2020.

There are also regional differences in life expectancy, with the ACT having the highest male and female life expectancy (82.1 years and 85.9 years), while the Northern Territory has the lowest (76.2 years and 81 years).

But life expectancy is rising fastest in the Northern Territory, up by 9.9 years for men and 8.7 years for women since 1990, the data shows.

There are significant differences between regions, with life expectancy generally higher in capital cities than in remote regions.

North Sydney and Hornsby were the areas with the highest life expectancy in Australia for males at 85.7 years, while for females it was Baulkham Hills and Hawkesbury, Ryde in Sydney and Brisbane West, at 88.1 years.

Outback Northern Territory had the lowest life expectancy of any area in Australia, at 73 years for males and 77.4 years for females.

The report concludes that improved health services, medical and technological advances and safer working environments are the drivers behind improving life expectancy.

Internationally, Japan, Switzerland, Singapore, Spain and Italy are all ahead of Australia on the life expectancy tables for all persons. Japan is the highest ranked for females at 87.67 years, while Swiss men are the longest living at 81.87 years.

Australia’s life expectancy, both for males and females, is a full two years longer than in the UK. A baby boy born in the UK can expect to live to 79 and a baby girl to 82.9.

The US, already five years lower than Australia in terms of life expectancy at 2019, has seen a significant recent fall due to high numbers of people dying prematurely with Covid-19.