Overview

Life expectancy is one of the most commonly used measures of overall health of a population. It is expressed as either the number of years a newborn baby is expected to live, or the expected years of life remaining for a person at a given age, and is estimated from the death rates in a population. Examining causes, patterns and trends in death can also help explain differences and changes in the health of a population, contribute to the evaluation of health strategies and interventions, and guide planning and policy-making.

Featured reports

Latest findings

In 2020, there were 161,300 deaths registered in Australia

In 2020, the leading cause of death for males was coronary heart disease (12%)

In 2020, the leading cause of death for females was dementia including Alzheimer’s disease (12%)

Average health service costs in the last year of life were highest for people who died from bowel cancer

Health service use and associated costs varied by whether older people used residential aged care in their last year

Average health service costs in the last year of life increased with age until, at age 70, they began to fall

More reports and statistics on life expectancy & deaths can be found under Burden of disease and Injury.