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Major life expectancy gap among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people


Doug Hendrie


29/11/2018 4:16:04 PM

There is a difference of six to seven years between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in remote areas compared to those living in major cities.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in the Northern Territory and Western Australia had the lowest life expectancy estimates.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in the Northern Territory and Western Australia had the lowest life expectancy estimates.

The life expectancy gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous Australians is well known.
 
But there’s also a major gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who live in remote areas versus those in major cities, according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
 
‘[L]ife 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,’ Anthony Grubb, Director of Demography at the ABS said.
 
Remote and very remote life expectancy at birth is 65.9 years for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and 69.9 years for women, compared to 72.1 and 76.5 years for those living in major cities, a difference of 6.2 years and 6.9 years, respectively.
 
The new statistics also confirm the life expectancy gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous Australians remains wide, with an overall gap of 8.6 years for men and 7.8 years for women, though that gap has narrowed slightly since 2010.  
 
But the gap is far wider in remote and very remote areas – up to 14 years for women.
 
The overall life expectancy at birth for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in 2015–17 was 71.6 years for men and 75.6 years for women.
 
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in the Northern Territory and Western Australia had the lowest life expectancy estimates.



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