LIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH
Life expectancy is considered an indicator of the health of any given population. For a child born today, life expectancy is calculated as the average life span of a child, on the assumption that currently observed age-and-sex specific death rates continue indefinitely into the future.
Life expectancy at birth for Victorian children has continued to rise. A boy born in Victoria during 2001-05 had a life expectancy of 79.8 years, 2.4 years longer than a boy born during 1997-2001. The life expectancy of a girl born in 2001-05 was 84.3 years, 4.5 years longer than a boy, and 1.6 years longer than a girl born in 1997-2001.
In 2001-05, the highest life expectancy for a male born in Victoria was recorded in the Shire of Nillumbik (81.9 years), while the City of Melbourne recorded the highest female life expectancy (86.7 years). Loddon Shire recorded the lowest life expectancy for a male during this period (74.8 years), 5 years below the male life expectancy for Victoria. Glenelg Shire recorded the lowest life expectancy for female (81.3 years), which was 3 years below the female life expectancy for Victoria.
Between 1997-2001 and 2001-05, the gap between LGAs with highest and lowest male life expectancy widened from 5.8 years to 7.1 years. Similarly for females the gap increased from 4.7 to 5.4 years.
The largest percent changes in life expectancy for males between 1997-2001 and 2001-05 were recorded in the City of Melbourne (5.5%) and Shire of Surf Coast (3.8%). For females, the percent change was highest in the Shires of Golden Plains (4.1%) and Surf Coast (3.2%), both in the LGA of Barwon.
View underlying table as an Excel spreadsheet: 1367.2 Table 6, Life Expectancy At Birth, By Local Government Area (file size 21kB).
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