DEATHS
There were 128,300 deaths registered in Australia in 2000. The death rate continued to decline despite the ageing of the Australian population. The expectation of life at birth, calculated from the registered deaths during 1998-2000, has been the highest ever recorded in Australia, at 77 years for males and 82 years for females.
Life expectancy at birth for males and females varied across the States and Territories and the Statistical Divisions of Australia. For the States and Territories, the highest life expectancy at birth for males was in the Australian Capital Territory (78 years) and for females in Western Australia (83 years). Northern Territory had the lowest life expectancies (70 years for males and 75 years for females). Regional life expectancy estimates varied by up to 11 years. Male life expectancy at birth was highest in Canberra (79 years) followed by Outer Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth (each 78 years). Female life expectancy was highest at 83 years in Lower Great Southern (Western Australia), Midlands (Western Australia), Perth (Western Australia) and Moreton (Queensland). Both male and female life expectancy were lowest in the Northern Territory outside Darwin (69 years and 73 years respectively) and the Kimberley (69 years and 76 years).
Indigenous life expectancy at birth was estimated at 56 years for males and 63 years for females, nearly 20 years less than for the total population.
Further information is available in Deaths, Australia 2000 (Cat. No. 3302.0) and Causes of Death, Australia 2000 (Cat. No. 3303.0), released on 11 December 2001.
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