Australia tops life expectancy among English-speaking nations
A recent study has revealed that Australians outlive their peers in five other high-income English-speaking countries, including the UK and US, by one to four years.
The paper published in the medical journal BMJ Open last month, analysed the average life expectancies in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States between 1990 and 2019.
They found that Australians' life expectancy surpassed that of Canadians in the early 1990s - and it has remained in the top spot ever since.
The average life expectancy for an Australian born in 2019 was 83.24 years, which is two years longer than the average Brit, and four years longer than the average American.
"Australia is clearly the best-performing Anglophone country," the paper said.
"While Australian men and women have lower mortality at nearly all ages, their mortality advantage at ages 45–84 accounts for the bulk of Australia's life expectancy advantage."
The Irish came in second with an life expectancy of 82.39 years, followed by the Canadians with 82.28, and the Kiwis with 81.83.
Australia's long life expectancy could be credited to it's high migrant population and low death rates from drug and alcohol misuse, screenable/treatable cancers, and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.
The nation's "strong public health efforts", such as the 1996 gun law reforms and buyback programs following the Port Arthur massacre, and the creation of Headspace, the national youth mental healthcare service, could also play part in our longevity.
Australia also had the lowest level of "geographic inequality", meaning that the gap in life expectancy between rich and poor regions was narrower than other countries.
However, the life expectancy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continues to be significantly lower than the average Australian, with males born between 2020 and 2022 expected to live for just 71.9 years, and females for 75.6 years.
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