Aussie life expectancy hit record high over pandemic

Tuesday 8 November 2022

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released data on Australian life expectancy, which increased to a record high 81.3 years for males and 85.4 years for females in 2019-21.

Over the past decade, life expectancy has increased by 1.6 years for males and 1.2 years for females.

Around 30 years ago (1991), life expectancy at birth was 74.4 years for males and 80.3 years for females, a gap of 5.9 years. This gap has now narrowed to 4.1 years in 2019-21.

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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.