For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, the estimated life expectancy at birth (2020-2022) is around 71.9 years for males and 75.6 years for females, which is about 8-9 years less than non-Indigenous Australians, though this gap narrows with age and varies by location, with remote areas having lower life expectancy.
Nationally, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males born in 2020–2022 are expected to live to 71.9 years and females to 75.6 years, and non-Indigenous males and females to 80.6 years and 83.8 years respectively (table CtG1A.
Causes of death
Ischaemic heart disease (IHD) was the leading specific cause of death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in NSW, Qld, WA, SA and the NT in 2023 [26].
Air quality, food standards, active culture and healthcare access. Probably in that order. Obesity and Smoking remain the two highest risk factors for all-cause morbidity. We do a lot in this country to counter them both (active lifestyles and prohibitively expensive cigarettes with limited places to smoke).
Aboriginal people are known to have occupied mainland Australia for at least 65,000 years.
A new study in the British Medical Journal has found that Australians outlive all wealthy English-speaking countries including the UK, the USA, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand. Australians' life expectancy (81 for men, 85 for women) is two years longer than their UK counterparts and five years longer than Americans.
Top 10 Countries with the Highest Life Expectancy
Australia's top three causes of death are consistently Dementia (including Alzheimer's disease), Ischaemic Heart Disease, and Chronic Lower Respiratory Diseases, though their exact order and numbers shift slightly year to year, with dementia often leading for females and heart disease for males, and lung cancer and cerebrovascular diseases also prominent in the top five.
Dementia is one of the most feared conditions among Australian health service consumers, second only to cancer.
The standard three-part test for Aboriginality in Australia requires a person to meet three criteria: descent (biological ancestry), self-identification (identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander), and community acceptance (being recognized as such by their Indigenous community). This definition, adopted by the Commonwealth government, is used for many government programs and services, although the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) uses a simpler two-part test (descent and self-identification) for general data collection.
Central to Aboriginal beliefs about death is the concept of the spirit (or "soul") and its journey after death. For many Aboriginal groups, death is viewed not as an end but as a transition into the next phase of existence, where the spirit continues its journey in a different form.
Health status pre-colonisation
Prior to colonisation, there was no processed food and Aboriginal people were generally fit and healthy. First Peoples only came into contact with the chronic diseases they continue to face today, because of the British invasion.
Stephen Stewart was born before records began, but he is thought to be 109 years old. That makes him the oldest Aboriginal man still alive in West Australia's Pilbara region, if not the entire country.
Aboriginal identity has changed over time and place, with family lineage, self-identification, and community acceptance all of varying importance. The 2021 census shows that there were over 944,000 Aboriginal people, comprising 3.7% of Australia's population.
No, Australia is not 90% white; while a large majority identify with European ancestry (around 76-80% in recent years), a significant and growing portion identifies as Asian, African, Middle Eastern, or Indigenous, making it a highly multicultural nation with diverse ethnic backgrounds, not overwhelmingly white. Recent census data shows European ancestry (English, Irish, etc.) makes up a large chunk, but Asian ancestries are also substantial, with over 17% Asian population and around 3.8% identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, per the 2021 census data from Wikipedia.
While precise numbers are impossible, Tuberculosis (TB) is estimated to have killed the most humans in history, with around 1 billion deaths, followed by Smallpox, which killed hundreds of millions (300-500M in 20th century alone), and Malaria, a persistent killer since antiquity, with some sources suggesting it affected half of all people ever to live, though definitive figures are elusive.
Without a medical breakthrough, the number of Australian dementia cases is projected to rise to more than one million by 2065. The increase is partly due to our growing ageing population. But dementia is not inevitable – and is not just a normal part of ageing.
The average retirement age in Australia is around 57, being 59 ½ for men and 54 ½ for women. However, the age that people intend on retiring differs significantly, being age 65 ½. But while these might be the ages that Australians retire, what is the official retirement age in Australia? The truth is, there isn't one!
4 Top Ways to Live Longer
Most deaths in Australia, like other developed countries, occur among older people (Figure 2.1). Sixty-eight per cent of deaths registered in Australia in 2023 were among people aged 75 or over (63% for males and 74% for females). The median age at death was 79.6 years for males and 84.6 years for females (Table S2.
The top 10 healthiest countries in the world
Deep-Sea Sponges
A deep-sea sponge can break the records of all living animals. It can live up to a thousand years. In fact, a study revealed that the oldest of the sponge samples collected lived for 11,000 years. During this time, the earth has just recovered from the Ice Age.
In addition, articles comparing life expectancy of athletes compared to that of nonathletes were reviewed. Results of 13 studies describing eight different cohorts suggest that regular physical activity is associated with an increase of life expectancy by 0.4 to 6.9 years.
Yes, $70k is a fair salary in Australia, often near the median income, making it a decent living for a single person, especially outside major cities, but it can be tight in expensive areas or for those with high living costs like mortgages, with full-time averages now closer to $90k-$100k.
Australians are now 30 per cent richer in GDP per head, and almost 60 per cent better off when it comes to the net wealth of the median citizen (indeed, the person in the middle of society is richer in Australia than anywhere outside of Luxembourg).