Australian women living longer than their predecessors

Australian girls born today will live longer than their predecessors and live an extra 4.2 years than the nation’s men.

Australian women born today will live longer than their predecessors and live an extra 4.2 years than Australian men. Picture: Supplied

Australian women born today will live longer than their predecessors and live an extra 4.2 years than Australian men.

New figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show Australian female life expectancy has increased to 84.6 years, putting Australian women sixth in the world for predicted lifespan.

Women and men living in the Australian Capital Territory recorded the highest life expectancy with men living to 81.3 years and women reaching 85.2 years.

The Northern Territory had the lowest life expectancy for both sexes with men born now expected to live to 75.6 years and women expected to reach 78.7 years.

Australia’s male life expectancy remained 80.4 years, placing Aussie men third in global rankings behind Iceland and Switzerland.

Female life expectancy in Australia has increased by 33.7 years in the past 125 years to 2015 and male life expectancy has increased by 33.2 years over the same period.

ABS Demography Director Beidar Cho said the increase in predicted lifespan reflected a major shift in causes of death from infectious diseases to chronic diseases.

ABS figures show Australia’s combined male and female life expectancy in 2014-2016 was 82.5 years, 11.7 years higher than the latest available world average of 70.8 years.