National Healthcare Agreement: PI 06–Life expectancy, 2022

Collection and usage attributes

Life expectancy for total population is calculated for a rolling 3-year period and reported annually.

Life expectancy for Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations is calculated for a rolling 3-year period and reported every 5 years.

Presented as:

• number of years
• confidence intervals/variability bands (Indigenous life expectancy only)
• difference between Indigenous and non-Indigenous life expectancies at birth
• difference between male and female life expectancies at birth (total population).

Calculated by direct estimation of life expectancy for all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians using the average number of deaths in the 3-year period and the estimated resident population at the mid-point of that period.

The indicator does not have a numerator or denominator. The average number of years a person could expect to live from the day they are born if they experienced mortality rates at each age that are currently experienced by the relevant population.

2018–2020—State and territory, by:

• sex
• Statistical Area level 4 (SA4) (not reported).

2015–2017 (previously supplied)—State and territory, by:

• Indigenous status and sex.

2015–2017 (previously supplied)—Nationally, by:

• Indigenous status and sex
• Sex by remoteness (Major City; Inner regional and outer regional combined, Remote and very remote combined) (not reported).

Most recent data available for 2022 National Healthcare Agreement performance reporting: 2018–2020 (total population only); 2015–2017 (Indigenous population, non-Indigenous population).

The Life Tables publication is producted annually, for life expectancy for the total Australian population only. Life expectancy estimates for the total population are not to be compared with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. The reference period for 2022 national reporting of life expectancy estimates for the total population is 2018–2020.

Life Tables for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are produced every 5 years. Non-Indigenous life expectancy estimates are to be used as a comparator to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life expectancy estimates. The reference period for 2022 national reporting of life expectancy estimates for the Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations is 2015–2017 (published on 29 November 2018). These estimates are to be used until the next issue of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Life Tables (for the reference period 2020–2022) is released in 2023.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander estimates of life expectancy are not produced for Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania or the Australian Capital Territory due to the small number of Indigenous deaths reported in these jurisdictions.

Further details on life expectancy for Indigenous Australians are available from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework (measure 1.19: Life expectancy at birth).

Representational attributes

NN.N

Indicator conceptual framework

Data source attributes

Accountability attributes

National Healthcare Agreement

Australian Bureau of Statistics

Specification: Final, the measure meets the intention of the indicator.

Source and reference attributes

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (Reference period: 2015–2017). Life Tables for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. ABS Website. Viewed 18 February 2021, https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples/life-tables-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-australians/2015-2017

ABS (Reference period: 2017–2019). Life Tables. ABS Website. Viewed 18 February 2021, https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/life-tables/latest-release

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2020. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework. Canberra: AIHW. Viewed 19 February 2021, https://indigenoushpf.gov.au/

Relational attributes