The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today released data on life expectancy and deaths, with both hitting record highs in 2014:
Aussie males and females born today have the highest estimated life expectancy ever recorded in Australia. And the good news is both men and women can expect to celebrate their 80th birthday milestone.
“There are only six other countries worldwide where both men and women have a life expectancy over 80 years,” said Beidar Cho from the ABS. “These countries are Japan, Italy, Switzerland, Iceland, Israel and Sweden.”
“Australia has a higher life expectancy, at both the male and female level, than many similar countries to ours, such as New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.”
In Australia, male life expectancy at birth rose to 80.3 years in 2014 from 80.1 in 2013 and female life expectancy also increased to 84.4 years from 84.3.
“The two territories tell contrasting stories about mortality in Australia,” said Ms Cho. “In 2014, the Australian Capital Territory had the highest life expectancy for both males and females while the Northern Territory had the lowest.”
The national number of registered deaths rose 4.0 per cent to 153,580 in 2014 from 147,678 in 2013 and is indicative of Australia’s growing and ageing population…
During 2004 to 2014, the standardised death rate (SDR) for Australia declined, while showing some small fluctuations. In 2014, the SDR was 5.5 deaths per 1,000 standard population, down from 6.4 in 2004 and up from 5.4 in 2013. The SDRs for males and females also declined during the period, again with some small fluctuations…
Logically we should expect death rates to accelerate from around 2026 – 80 years after the first of the large baby boomer generation was born (see next chart).
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In 2014, the median age at death was 78.5 years for males and 84.8 years for females. However, as shown above, there is a large chunk of deaths that occur in the 75 to 85 year range.
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.
