The life expectancy at birth for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians in 2015-2017 was 71.6 years for men and 75.6 years for women, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
“However, life expectancy within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population varied considerably, with the lowest life expectancy experienced by those living in the more remote parts of the country” said Anthony Grubb, Director of Demography at the ABS.
“Life expectancy at birth for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in remote and very remote areas was 65.9 years for men and 69.6 years for women, while those living in major cities had the highest life expectancy (72.1 years and 76.5 years for men and women respectively).”
The figures show that life expectancy estimates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians remain lower than for the non- Indigenous population. The life expectancy at birth of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men in 2015-2017 was 8.6 years lower than for non-Indigenous men, while that of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women was 7.8 years lower than that of non-Indigenous women.
These differences were more marked in remote and very remote areas, where the difference in life expectancy at birth for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population compared with the non-Indigenous population was 13.8 years for men and 14.0 years for women.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in the Northern Territory and Western Australia had the lowest life expectancy estimates.
Further details are available in Life Tables for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 2015-2017 (cat. no. 3302.0.55.003).