Life expectancy, mortality and causes of death

The interactive visualisations on this page allow you to compare data across 37 OECD member countries for the following indicators:

  • life expectancy
  • infant mortality
  • neonatal mortality
  • perinatal mortality
  • maternal mortality
  • causes of death.

Key findings

In 2019 (or based on the latest year of data):

  • Australia’s life expectancy at birth was 82.8 years—above the OECD average of 80.7 years, and 7th highest among OECD countries. The highest life expectancy was in Japan, where people could expect to live 84.2 years at birth
  • Australia’s infant mortality rate (with no minimum threshold of gestation period or birthweight) was 3.1 deaths per 1,000 live births—below the OECD average of 4.1 deaths per 1,000 live births. Estonia experienced the lowest rate of infant mortality (1.6 deaths per 1,000 live births)
  • The rate of maternal mortality in Mexico was 7 times that in Australia, at 34.6 compared with 4.8 deaths per 100,000 live births (OECD average 7.8 deaths per 100,000 live births)
  • The most common disease group for causes of death among Australians was neoplasms (cancer) (184 deaths per 100,000 population (standardised), followed by diseases of the circulatory system at 170 deaths per 100,000 population (standardised). These were also the most common causes of death across all other OECD countries.

The figure compares life expectancy for OECD countries for 2019 or nearest year. Life expectancy at birth was highest in Japan (84.2 years) and lowest in Latvia (74.9 years).  Australia had the 7th highest (82.8) and the OECD average was 80.7 years at birth.

The figure compares infant, maternal, neonatal and perinatal mortality across OECD countries for 2019 or nearest year. The highest rate of infant mortality (no minimum threshold of gestation period or birthweight) was in Colombia,16.8 deaths per 1,000 live births and the lowest was in Estonia, 1.6 deaths per 1,000 live births. In Australia, the infant mortality rate was 3.1 deaths per 1,000 live births, lower than the OECD average of 4.1 deaths per 1,000 live births.

This figure compares causes of death for OECD countries for 2019 or nearest year. In Australia, neoplasms (cancer) and diseases of the circulatory system make up the largest proportion of deaths, 184.4 and 169.9 deaths per 100,000 population (standardised), respectively. Both of these rates were lower than the OECD averages.