Australians born between 2013 and 2015 can expect to live 82.4 years, up from 82.1 years for those born in the two years previously, data published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare on Thursday shows.
But there are communities throughout Australia where life expectancy is failing to keep up with national trends, with people in the Northern Territory predicted to live five fewer years, with an average life expectancy of 77.7 years. Those living in northern Sydney can expect to live the longest – 85.5 years. This is closely followed by eastern Melbourne, where life expectancy sits at 84.3 years.
The Life Expectancy and Potentially Avoidable Deaths report also found the greatest improvements in life expectancy were seen in Queensland areas; Brisbane north, Brisbane south, Darling Downs and West Moreton, and western Queensland. Life expectancy increased in those areas by an average of 0.6 years between 2011-13 and 2013-15.
“Women continue to have a longer life expectancy than men, yet both women and men had an increase in life expectancy between 2011–13 and 2013–15 – an increase from 84.3 to 84.5 years for women and 80.1 to 80.4 years for men,” the report found.
A similar pattern was also seen when looking at potentially avoidable deaths, defined as deaths that occur prematurely before the age of 75 from preventable or treatable causes. There were almost 80,000 potentially avoidable deaths in Australia in 2013–15, accounting for 17% of all deaths over this period.
Northern Sydney had the lowest rate of potentially avoidable deaths, at 62 deaths for every 100,000 people, while the rate was highest in the Northern Territory at 226 deaths for every 100,000.
The rate of potentially avoidable deaths declined in most local areas between 2009–11, and 2013–15, with the most notable improvement seen in western Queensland, falling from 213 to 194 deaths for every 100,000 people.
Nationally, there was an average of 108 potentially avoidable deaths for every 100,000 people, with a rate of 139 for men and 77 for women.
The findings follow a report launched by the Public Health Association of Australia on Tuesday, which revealed deepening health inequities in Australia. The Australia’s Health Tracker by Socio-Economic Status report, led by the Australian Health Policy Collaboration at Victoria University, found those in the lowest socioeconomic brackets experienced significantly poorer health compared with those in the middle and highest brackets.
The report found that 40% of Australians on low incomes were experiencing poor health, which the report attributed to multiple factors including lack of access to healthcare, poor nutrition, high rates of obesity and high smoking rates. The rising cost of living from the increasing prices of housing, utilities and food was also manifesting in poorer health outcomes, the report found.
The chief executive of the Public Health Association of Australia, Michael Moore, said every year chronic disease was claiming the lives of thousands of Australians under 75 in lower socioeconomic groups.
This was not being addressed by national health policy and programs, he said.
“The statistics from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare are not surprising to those of us who work in health and who have been wrestling with social determinants of health,but I think it is surprising for some middle-class and wealthy australians to recognise the strong association between health and wealth,” he told Guardian Australia.
“Because we have had a swing towards conservatism in our society, the wealthy are paying less tax and with that there is an increase in discrepancy between rich and poor. The argument has been framed around the argument that if we have less tax it will encourage business and employ more people and the reality is that has not happened.
“We have is a government that says everything should be about personal responsibility, which denies the importance of good government stewardship. But governments have a significant responsibility to ensure appropriate access to health and education as a basic starting point for all.”
