SUMMARY OF HEADLINE ESTIMATES
At the national level, for 2010-2012, life expectancy at birth for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males was estimated to be 69.1 years, 10.6 years less than life expectancy at birth for non-Indigenous males (79.7 years). Life expectancy at birth for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander females was estimated to be 73.7 years, 9.5 years less than life expectancy at birth for non-Indigenous females (83.1 years). Confidence intervals for these estimates are presented in Appendix 1: Confidence intervals.
The ABS estimates that life expectancy at birth for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males increased by 1.6 years since 2005-2007, and by 0.6 years for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander females. The difference between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous life expectancy narrowed by 0.8 years for males and 0.1 years for females over the same period. See Appendix 2: Estimating Revised Life Expectancy Measures for 2005-2007 for further information on the 2005-2007 to 2010-2012 change.
Use of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life tables
Estimates of life expectancy at birth for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are commonly used as a measure for assessing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population health and disadvantage.
The life tables in this release will enable the construction of Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) estimates and projections of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population of Australia for the period 2001 to 2026. These data are produced using the cohort-component method, in which assumptions made about levels of mortality, fertility and migration are iteratively applied to a base population to obtain projections of past and/or future populations.
Print Page
Print All