Aussie life expectancy hits all-time high

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By Leith van Onselen

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today released data on life expectancy, which hit an all-time high in 2015 and is now near the top of the table for OECD nations:

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“Babies born today have the highest estimated life expectancy ever recorded in Australia,” said Beidar Cho, ABS Director of Demography.

“Male life expectancy at birth reached 80.4 years in 2015, increasing from 80.3 in 2014. Female life expectancy also increased to 84.5 years in 2015 from 84.4 in the previous year.

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“In 2013-2015, the male and female combined life expectancy at birth estimate for Australia was 82.4 years. This was 11.9 years higher than the world average of 70.5 years in 2010-2015,” said Ms Cho.

In 2015, the Australian Capital Territory led the way, recording the highest life expectancy for both males and females, 81.2 years and 85.3 years respectively.

The Northern Territory recorded the lowest life expectancy of 75.7 years for males and 78.5 years for females.

“For both men and women, Australia has a higher life expectancy than similar countries such as Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the USA,” said Ms Cho.

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Great news. Now watch on as the growth lobby spuriously argues for even more immigration to mitigate the ageing population.

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.