Australia records first life expectancy drop in decades

Australia’s life expectancy has gone backwards for the first time in decades as the nation continues to live with chronic disease, obesity, poor mental health, and an overwhelmed healthcare system.
 
Despite these growing challenges, overall health is ‘faring well’ compared to similar countries, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s (AIHW) biennial flagship report card.
 
Released on Tuesday, the report examines the nation’s health and healthcare systems in a bid to unveil their current state, as well as future challenges.
 
Life expectancy
It revealed that a male born in 2020–22 can expect to live, on average 81.2 years, and 85.3 years for a female.
 
While this is an increase of more than 40% over the past century, it decreased by 0.1 years from 2019–22, but is still higher than it was in 2017–19 by 0.3 years.
 
In the past two decades males gained a total of 2.2 years in full health and females gained 0.8 years.
 
However, there has also been an increase in the number of years people spend in ill-health, increasing to 9.7 years for males and 11.5 years for females.
 
Last year, the leading causes of total burden among males were coronary heart disease, back pain and problems, and suicide and self-inflicted injuries.
 
Among females, the leading causes were dementia, anxiety disorders, and back pain and problems.
 
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health continues to fall well below national standards, with no improvements in infant and child death rates over the past decade.
 
As Australia continues its pandemic recovery, the snapshot revealed that COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in 2022 – the first time in more than 50 years an infectious disease has been in the top five causes of death.
 
Chronic disease
The AIHW report revealed about 60% of Australians live with at least one long-term health condition, and 40% of people have two or more – these conditions contributed to up to 92% of all deaths.

It found the coronary heart disease death rate has continued to decline since its peak in the 1960s and plummeted by 80% from 1980–2022, despite still being the leading single cause of death in Australia.
 
Last year, an average of 450 cases of cancer were diagnosed each day, but between 2000–23, the cancer death rate fell among all age groups.

More than 70% of people survived at least five years after a cancer diagnosis during 2015–19, up from 53% 25 years earlier, thanks, in part, to the number of national screening programs now available.
 
AIHW Deputy CEO Matthew James added that dementia rates will more than double by 2058 to 849,300.

‘Chronic conditions present a key challenge for individuals, governments and society as a whole,’ he said.
 
The health system
In 2021–22, Australia spent $241.3 billion on health goods and services, an increase of $6 billion from 2020–21.

In 2022–23, 86% of Australians had at least one Medicare-subsidised GP attendance, with these numbers steadily rising since 2005.
 
A one-time GP appointment peak of 7.4 attendances per person was recorded in 2021 due to the demand for COVID-19 vaccines and telehealth appointments.
 
The COVID-19 pandemic
The report found the pandemic created varied responses among differing healthcare sectors, with some services changed or suspended, and others facing additional duties.
 
Hospitalisations and elective surgeries from public waitlists have been significantly impacted and remained lower each year from 2019–23 than before the pandemic.
 
However, the 415.2 hospitalisations per 1000 population recorded in 2022–23 has reduced from 421.7 per 1000 population in 2018–19.
 
In 2022–23, 50% of patients on public hospital elective surgery waiting lists were admitted within 49 days, up from 40 days in 2021–22 and 41 days in 2018–19.

Total numbers of MBS-subsidised services, including GP attendances, increased before 2021 but higher than previous increases were seen throughout the pandemic.
 
GP workloads increased significantly, led by vaccination information requests and telehealth attendances.
 
It said this wider availability of telehealth is a trend which has continued to this day, with each Australian, on average, receiving 1.26 telehealth attendances last year compared to 0.01 in 2017–19.

Smoking and vaping
The report revealed that tobacco use is continuing to fall, with 8.3% of people aged older than 14 smoking daily, compared to 12.2% in 2016.
 
In less positive news, the number of people using e-cigarettes daily rose from 0.5% in 2016 to 3.5% last year, and this jumps to 9.3% for those aged 18–24.
 
In 2022–23, females aged 18–24 were more likely to use e-cigarettes daily compared with males, at  10.3% and 8.5% respectively.
 
At the same time, the number of people drinking alcohol ‘in ways that put their health at risk’ fell from 39% in 2004 to 31% in 2022–23.
 
Mental health
Mental health concerns continue to impact millions of Australians, with 43% of the population in 2020–22 aged 16–85 experiencing a mental disorder at some time in their life and 22% in the past year.
 
The report points to a ‘notable increase among young people’ experiencing poor mental health, with 39% of 16–24-year-olds experiencing mental illness in the previous 12 months compared to 26% in 2007.
 
It says this is ‘almost entirely driven by an increased prevalence among females in this age group’, which skyrocketed from 30% in 2007 to 46% in 2020–22.
 
Last year, 10% of the population accessed 13.2 million Medicare-subsidised mental health-specific services, up from 8% in 2013–14.
 
Diet and exercise
Last year brought with it a rise in the number of people adding exercise or movement into their lives.
 
In 2017–18, 51% of adults aged 18–64 did not meet the physical activity guideline, compared to 37% in 2022.
 
At the same time, 94% of adults did not meet Australian Dietary Guidelines for daily serves of vegetables and 56% did not meet the guideline for daily serves of fruit. 

The report found 66% of adults are currently overweight or obese, down just one percentage point from 2017–18, but up significantly from 56% in 1995.
 
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AIHW Australian Institute of Health and Welfare chronic disease COVID-19 mental health