What is my life expectancy in Australia?

Knowing the life expectancy of people in Australia may help you plan ahead for the future. Here’s the latest data showing how long men and women are expected to live.

Life expectancy in Australia increased in the 2019-21 period with girls born then set to live 85.4 years of age and boys to live 81.3 years, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

When it comes to a current 65-year-old Australian woman they can expect to live another 23.0 years and a same aged man another 20.3 years longer. The ABS says this is longer than their life expectancy at their birth.

Further number crunching by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) found that people born in 2019-2021 can expect to live about 30 years longer than those born more than a century ago in 1891–1900. That’s an average of about an extra three months for every year over the century.

What’s revealing though is that there appears to be a limit to how long we can expect to live, and that hasn’t changed much.

“While there is no clear answer to the question, ‘how long can Australians live?’, we all know that average life expectancy keeps on increasing,” said AIHW spokesperson Richard Juckes.

“But what is interesting is that the maximum age people live to isn’t changing nearly as much.”

In the 10 years to 2021, the AIHW says the most common age at death was 91 for women and 87 for men.

But while the median average age of death for both has been increasing, the maximum (oldest) age at death has shown minimal improvements over time. Deaths at extreme old ages (110 years and older) remained rare.

“From externally validated records, the oldest living person in Australia was female and believed to have died at age 114 in 2002,” said Mr Juckes. “In comparison, the oldest living Australian male died at 111 years in 2021.”

Life expectancy from year of birth

Which states and territories have the highest and lowest life expectancies?

Girls born in the Australian Capital Territory in 2019-2021 can expect to live the longest, at 86.3 years, compared with the other states and territories, according to the ABS data. For boys, it’s also best if they were born in the ACT during that time as they can expect to live 82.7 years.

Those born in the Northern Territory have the lowest life expectancy, at 81.0 years for girls and 76.3 years for boys. But life expectancy in the NT has shown the largest gains in Australia over the past 30 years, up 9.2 years for men and 8.7 years for women.

Life expectancy in years by state and territory

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Source: ABS Life Tables 2019-21

Life expectancy in other countries

Australia has the third-best overall life expectancy in the world, according to the ABS. The Principality of Monaco, on the Mediterranean coast of the French Riviera, is in the lead, followed by Japan. New Zealand is in 10th place.

The United Kingdom and the United States don’t even make it into the top 20.

Life expectancy: top 10 countries

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Source:  ABS Life Tables 2019-21 (For all countries, see United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2022). World Population Prospects 2022, Online Edition)

Note there are other world rankings of life expectancy available which show Australia in a different position. For example, the AIHW notes Australia ranked fifth among 38 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2021.

What factors affect life expectancy?

There are many factors that could impact on your life expectancy, some of which are out of your control such as when and where you were born, and your gender at birth.

Other factors to consider include the quality of available health care you are able to access, whether you smoke, drink too much alcohol, or whether you have a healthy diet and exercise enough.

In a separate study the ABS found that in 2017-18, 13.8% of adults were smokers, that’s just under one in seven people. This figure has fallen from 23.8% in 1995 but has stayed relatively similar in recent years (14.5% in 2014-15).

Despite Australia’s reputation as a place of deadly creatures, the leading causes of death are all health related, including cancer, heart disease, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

What’s my life expectancy: how long will I live?

It’s not possible to use the ABS data and analysis to say how long any individual will live. The life expectancy figures use a number of factors and are based on a hypothetical group of 100,000 people.

The figures are only a guide as to the trend in life expectancy over the years and should not be taken as an indication of your own life expectancy.

Some organisations have put together their own life expectancy calculator, such as the National Seniors’ Lifespan Calculator (built by Optimum Pensions) and QSuper’s online life expectancy calculator.

Again these should only be used with caution as a guide and not to give any accurate figure on your own life expectancy.

While it may be good news that in general we’re expected to live longer in the future, the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) says it’s an issue that will affect those heading for retirement.

Will I need to plan for a longer retirement?

If we’re living longer that means you may need to plan for a longer retirement. It’s an issue that was highlighted in a recent report, Rethinking Retirement, prepared by demographer Bernard Salt for the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA).

“The issue is that the extra years gifted to the life cycle for today’s Australians aren’t added to youth or even to middle age,” the report said.

“No, the extra years of life are added to the end of life creating, for the first time in history, an extensive retiree class.”

Canstar data already suggests many Australians could be likely to suffer from a shortfall in superannuation savings if they want to retire comfortably.

Now may be a good time to look at your plans for any savings or investments, and your retirement plans including any super.

You can use Canstar’s Superannuation & Retirement Calculator to estimate how much super you may have when you plan to retire, as well as any anticipated gap between your estimated super balance and how much super you may need.

You could also try Moneysmart’s Retirement Calculator to help project your financial status in retirement, based on your current super balance.

Additional reporting: Amanda Horswill
Cover image source: PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock.com