Australians are outliving people from Britain, Ireland, Canada, the US and New Zealand, a new study suggests.
Researchers say people from Australia have a lower death rate for certain cancers and from heart and lung diseases. They also have fewer deaths from drugs or alcohol.
The study, published in the journal BMJ Open, examined life expectancies in Australia compared with the five high-income English-speaking countries.
Researchers from the University of Southern California and Pennsylvania State University concluded that Australia is the “clear best performer” when it comes to life expectancy at birth.
They found that in 2018, baby girls in Australia could expect to live for up to four years longer than their peers in the other countries studied.
Baby boys may live for almost five years longer.
The academics said Australia has a four- to five-year life expectancy advantage over the USA and a one- to 2.5-year advantage over Canada, New Zealand, Ireland and the UK.
The study found that most of the gains in life expectancy in Australia accrue after the age of 45.
This is partly due to better treatment and early diagnosis for diseases that predominantly affect middle-aged adults. The study praised Australia’s “strong public health efforts” including low smoking rates and the high uptake of vaccinations.
It also has good mental health support for young adults, which reduces preventable deaths such as suicide.
Another factor is the high level of immigration in Australia, with about 30 per cent of the population born overseas.
“Prior studies have found that immigrants, who tend to have higher life expectancy than the native-born, can make important contributions to national life expectancy,” the study said.
The authors wrote: “Australia has achieved the highest life expectancy among Anglophone countries and tends to rank well in international comparisons of life expectancy overall.
“Australia performs particularly well in terms of mortality from external causes (including drug- and alcohol-related deaths), screenable/treatable cancers, cardiovascular disease and influenza/pneumonia and other respiratory diseases compared with other countries.”
