Australians are living longer

Death rates of Australians are continuing to fall at almost all ages. This is the welcome news from the latest actuarial investigation into the mortality of the Australian population.

The Acting Australian Government Actuary, Mr Kevin Deeves, today released the 1995-97 Australian Life Tables which report on Australian mortality in the three years centred on the 1996 Census. The 1995-97 report is the fifteenth in a series that commenced before Federation.

For the first time, a diskette containing the 1995-97 life tables, as well as mortality rates and life expectancies published in all previous Australian Life Tables, has been included with the publication.

Key Findings

The gap between male and female mortality rates is narrowing. While female mortality is still lower than male mortality at all but the very oldest ages, the greater improvements in mortality experienced by men over the past five years have reduced the differential.

Infant mortality has continued the dramatic decline of recent years. Infant mortality fell by 25 per cent for males and 21 per cent for females compared with the rates reported in the 1990-92 Life Tables. This follows reductions of about 20 per cent over the previous five years. These reductions significantly exceed the average five-yearly improvement of around 13 per cent over the 110 years since the first Life Tables were produced. Of 1,000 boys born, 994 would now be expected to survive their first year of life. This is 126 more than the number expected to survive when the first tables were published.

The thirty-somethings is the only group to have shown a deterioration in mortality. For males, this repeats the experience of the previous five years, but the increases in mortality have been smaller. Male mortality at age 35 is now 7 per cent higher than it was a decade ago. For females, mortality in the early 30s is about 3 per cent above levels of five years ago.

Life expectancies at birth have increased by over a year for males and just on a year for females. Assuming the 1995-97 mortality rates applied throughout life, a male infant could be expected to live for 75.7 years (up from 74.3 in the 1990-92 Life Tables), compared to a life expectancy of 81.4 years for females (up from 80.4). These figures translate to a 5.7 year gap in life expectancy at birth. Five years ago, the life expectancy at birth of females exceeded that of males by 6.1 years.

Future mortality improvements will have a significant effect on the mortality rates experienced by individuals over their lifetimes. Improvement in mortality has been a feature of life in Australia since mortality tables were first published (ALT1881-90). If mortality continues to improve in the future, life expectancies could be significantly higher than the figures quoted above. Applying the mortality improvement factors published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, for example, indicates that males born in 1996 could, on average, expect to live nearly 83 years. The report contains a discussion of mortality improvement and presents a series of alternative projections.

The 1995-97 Australian Life Tables may be purchased directly from the Australian Government Actuary by contacting Cathy Hogan on ph (02) 6213 5089, fax (02) 6213 5250, or email aga@apra.gov.au.

For more information:

Kevin Deeves
ph (02) 6213 5025
fax (02) 6213 5250