Health-adjusted life expectancy
Health-adjusted life expectancy extends the concept of life expectancy by considering the time spent living with ill health due to disease and injury. It reflects the length of time an individual at a specific age could, on average, expect to live in full health. It is most meaningful when compared with life expectancy.
Health-adjusted life expectancy for males and females born in 2018 was 71.5 and 74.1 years, respectively. Between 2003 and 2018, increases in health-adjusted life expectancy for people aged 65 were slightly smaller than those seen for life expectancy alone: health-adjusted life expectancy increased by 1.7 years for men aged 65 (as life expectancy increased by 2.1) and by 0.9 years for women (as life expectancy increased by 1.4 years). There was a small decrease in the proportion of life expectancy as healthy years over time for women (from 75% in 2003 to 74% in 2018), whereas for men there was a small increase (from 75% in 2003 to 76% in 2018) (AIHW 2021a).
Disability-free life expectancy
Increases in life expectancy hopefully accompany an increase in the number of healthy years people live. Disability-free life expectancy is a measure that provides the estimated number of years people can expect to live without disability.
It is important to note that disability does not necessarily equate to poor health or illness. Expected years living with disability should not be considered as being of less value than years without disability (AIHW 2020).
In Australia, the overall disability-free life expectancy has increased in recent years.
Men aged 65 in 2018 can expect to live, on average, another:
- 9 years without disability
- 11 years with some level of disability, including around 3.5 years with severe or profound disability.
Women aged 65 in 2018 can expect to live, on average, another:
- 10 years without disability
- 12 years with some level of disability, including around 5.5 years with severe or profound disability.
For people aged 65 in 2018, this equates to living just over half of their remaining lives with some level of disability (53% for men and 54% for women).
Over time, the number of estimated years living without disability at any age has increased for both men and women. Between 2003 and 2018, the gender gap in the expected years living without disability narrowed in most age groups. The gap for years living without severe or profound disability remained stable for most age groups. In the older age groups, however, the gap for years living without disability and living without severe or profound disability remained relatively stable, changing by no more than 0.2 years across the 65–69, 70–74, 75–79, 80–84 and 85 and over age groups (AIHW 2020).
For more information, see People with disability in Australia 2020.
Causes of death
In Australia in 2020, there were around 132,500 deaths of people aged 65 and over (82% of all deaths) (Table 3A.1). The median age at death was 79 for males and 85 for females (AIHW 2022a).
Table 3A.1: Deaths of older people by sex and age group, 2020
Age group (years)
|
Men
|
Women
|
People
|
% of total
|
65–69
|
6,518
|
4,084
|
10,602
|
8.0
|
70–74
|
9,424
|
6,099
|
15,523
|
11.7
|
75–79
|
10,870
|
7,618
|
18,488
|
14.0
|
80–84
|
12,692
|
10,721
|
23,413
|
17.7
|
85–89
|
13,063
|
13,777
|
26,840
|
20.3
|
90–94
|
10,065
|
14,556
|
24,621
|
18.6
|
95–99
|
3,446
|
7,608
|
11,054
|
8.3
|
100+
|
420
|
1,530
|
1,950
|
1.5
|
Total 65+
|
66,498
|
65,993
|
132,491
|
100.0
|
Notes
- Year refers to year of registration of death. Deaths registered in 2020 are based on preliminary data and are subject to further revision by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
- 'Older Australians' refers to people aged 65 and over.
Source: AIHW 2022a.
Coronary heart disease is the overall leading cause of death among older Australians. However, there were differences in the leading cause of death across the older age groups (Figure 3A.4). During 2018–20, the leading cause of death for people aged 65–74 was lung cancer (8,000), followed by coronary heart disease (7,500). Coronary heart disease was the leading cause of death for people aged 75–84 (12,600). For people aged 85 and over, dementia including Alzheimer's disease was the leading cause of death (30,700), followed by coronary heart disease (25,000) (AIHW 2022a).
Men and women also had different leading causes of death. For men, coronary heart disease was the leading cause across all older age groups. For women aged 65–74, the leading cause was lung cancer and for all other older age groups, it was dementia including Alzheimer’s disease (AIHW 2022a).