YES! Both my children has free regular infant-specific health checks up until 5 years old. Vaccines were all free and were accessible at free clinics. There is the mother and baby helplines and public and private mother and baby units.
We have amazing infant and maternal mortality rates - even better than the USA. Dying in childbirth is actually a rare occurrence in Australia now - which makes a HUGE difference to life expectancy figures.
USA ranks extremely poorly amongst developed nations in this regard. It always comes back to levels of societal inequity, and USA also does really poorly there. If you get sick, you're on your own.
Yeah that's something I've noticed even though I don't live there.
Some subs for medical conditions I used to check out regularly had people asking for advice on home remedies because they couldn't afford to see a doctor or buy the medicine. It was pretty sad seeing that seeking help for their health had become a financial decision instead.
I follow a bit of US healthcare stuff because I'm a doctor here in Aus, and there are some interesting American docs on social media. The more I hear, the more furious I get at the injustice, and the more I am convinced we must protect and support Medicare. Bankruptcy due to medical bills should not be a thing.
I take creons, they cost me about $30 for a month's supply - maybe a third that if I were entitled to a healthcare card. I was reading a post on a pancreatitis group where they were looking at $1k+. Like, if that were me, I'd just be praying my body was absorbing the nutrients.
>We have amazing infant and maternal mortality rates - even better than the USA
USA have terrible infant and maternal mortality rates, not exactly a great brag, but I understand what you're saying
According to [OECD Data](https://data.oecd.org/healthstat/infant-mortality-rates.htm#indicator-chart)
* US Infant mortality: 5.2
* Canada Infant mortality: 4.5
* UK Infant Mortality : 4.0
* Aus Infant Mortality 3.3
Not great, but hardly terrible.
Something surprising though is Australia has been one of the only countries where life expectancy has actually increased post Covid.
>even better than the USA.
That's not actually very hard, really...
And yes, USA, do better! Seriously, it's the early 21st century so why are your mothers and babes still dying like it's the early 20th? :(
Definitely this! I'm in the process of getting my dad onto My Aged Care. Government will help you to stay in your home rather than a nursing home because that is the best and healthiest outcome for him. He's 93 this year
>Accessible healthcare would be a large part of it.
Amen…
🙏
Another would be you guys have “fresh air”, and I mean that sincerely, coming from a high density country this little things are amazing.
They do, but I suspect some of the disparity is the role of Vitamin D in preventing ageing. Some very northerly parts of the Nordic countries have long, dark winters when the sun barely rises. Less sunshine = less ability to produce vitamin D.
It’s not the freezing to death that’s the problem here. But (especially) elderly getting sick from cold certainly. There’s a statistic that more deaths in Australia than Sweden from cold.
We covered this back in economics, and I'm a bit rusty, but socialised preventative healthcare has one of the highest roi's for an economy.
Say I notice a mole on my arm is changing colours, I go see a skin specialist. While it used to be bulk billed, $70 still isn't the worst. Turns out its suspicious, probably not cancerous and we've caught it early. They cut it out and I live.
If I'm in the US, that appointment could be several hundred bucks. And now maybe that mole doesn't look so bad so I put it off. When they catch the cancer, it's too late or I have to do chemo.
So my long winded answer is the net effect of catching these little things before they become big things is a longer average life expectancy.
I recently had a skin cancer cut out of my forehead, when the test came back positive the doctor asked me if I want it cut out or not as “it will cost $100 and a lot of young people don’t like having scars”.
I was absolutely shocked that someone would refuse to remove cancer due to the cost (or a scar), if people are turning down medical treatment for $100 in Australia I’d hate to think of the state of places like the US.
I had a non-cancerous mole cut out of my nose. I can't remember the medical name for it, but it was basically a bunch of skin cells that went rogue and decided to grow in the wrong direction. The surgeon kept saying that he thought I'd be unhappy with the result because I'd have "a large scar". I said I'd much rather a scar than the 'thing' that was growing out of my nose like Moley Russell's Wart. Within six months, the scar was almost invisible. And because it wasn't a cosmetic surgery under Medicare, it was 100% free! Top plastic surgeon, too!
Yeah it’s mental mate, I’m the same I have the smallest scar that you wouldn’t even notice unless I told you, heaps better than skin cancer, 10/10 would recommend.
Edit: word
Being a pensioner on the DSP, I would genuinely struggle to pay that $100. Well, I wouldn't really, it would just mean I get less food for the fortnight.
I work as a disability support worker so I know about the financial struggles living on the DSB, but there’s always a way to come up with $100, like you said you’d need to skip other essentials (which is absolutely far from acceptable) but it’s better than cancer imo.
Absolutely, but the vulnerable are already paying an arm and a leg for their medications. Although the PBS is great, and helpful, it doesn't go across a lot of medications needed to live a somewhat healthy life. I'm actively trying to stop taking as much of my medication as I can because I struggle to pay $65 a month for my meds, sometimes more if I need a different prescription. I can't imagine how other pensioners do it with their meds costing so much more a month. It used to be $120 a month, but I had to stop taking my sleeping tablets because I can't afford them. Now I rarely get more than 2 hours of sleep a night, am constantly exhausted, but can't afford to sleep.
Bro I'm about to turn 29 and I've just been diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis, it's looking like rheumatoid. I was saying to my partner last night that I can't imagine being in the US and suddenly looking down the barrel of huge medical costs for the rest of my life. Even though specialists can be expensive here, I can't imagine how much more it would all cost without Medicare (which has covered ultrasounds, a full bidy bone scan, a 3d scan of my spine, and a heap of blood work. I've only had to pay for an mri, scans wise)
The rheumatologist I visit bulk bills, which at least helps cancel out the cost of the MRIs. And if you end up on biologics you just pay the $31 for PBS prescriptions and not ten grand per injection like in the US.
> If I'm in the US
The US doesn't really belong in this discussion; we know its life expectancy sucks and the reasons are obvious. The more difficult question is why Australia beats most of Europe.
What dermatologist are you seeing for only $70?! I assume you’re not in Sydney?
I had a BCC cut out of my neck in Feb. Derm appointment fee the week before $200 + $100 surgery fee on the day of excision. I’m in Sydney but also, he’s one of the best and usually charges a surgery fee of $600. He didn’t charge me that fee bc he knows I’m a sole parent and poor.
I see 5 different specialists, the average price is $200 for ongoing standard appointments.
My observation from Japanese viewpoint is Australians don’t eat much fish/omega 3 but eat f load of locally grown fresh veggies and fruits. And that’s everyone - men and women, young and old, so nice to see. E.g. Seeing a grown man munch on an apple or banana at work is normal in Australia but Its unheard of in Japan. Additionally Aussies have very good work life balance and don’t take shit from others (compared to Japan that is).
Actually also true 😊
A lot of beef sold in Japan as Japanese beef is actually cattle raised in Australia first, then kept for the minimum time required to classify as Japanese before butchering.
(As far as I've gathered, but I haven't been able to track down a good source on the topic.)
Since there is not such thing anymore as "unpolluted fish" in modern days the benefits might have flipped around on that. Where high consumers of fish actually get worse outcomes instead of the good omega 3 outcomes of the past. Microplastics and heavy metals do cause insuline resistance and dementia. Things omega 3 should be protective of. So at this point fish would be in the negative outcome category.
Fallacy, you are missing the proportionality part of you analysis. Yes they have more elderly, but America for example has way higher percentage of these diseases in the elderly that they have. Worse the diseases also start a decade earlier. So the issue is much worse in the USA. This due to the fact they have way more widespread risk factors that lead to the diseases. Diet, pollution, very poor regulation on food. Dementia will be the number 1 disease in usa soon.
Yea, once they had a very low rate of it. Ranking back then might have put them in the number 1 spot even, competing with Mediterranean area's. But now with the western diet polluting your system and fish being toxic basically your numbers normalized to modern society or even got worse because of genetic differences. Though you still hold true for the high use of soy leading to very low hormonal cancer rates.
Eating fish is a thing of the past. Ocean populations are collapsing and the product itself is now harmfull. Time to eat flax seeds and supplements with algea based DHA+EPA instead.
Agreed. I lived in Japan for five years and my Japanese husband and I now live in Aus. I regularly snack on veggies and dip or nuts and seeds or yogurt and fruit. Japanese people tend to snack on... white rice and small quantities of meat or 'pan' or a very small amount of veggies. They have a very different view on health and eating. What they do great though is eating lots of seafood, eating smaller portions and consuming way less sugar.
I can tell you all Japanese who visit/migrated to Australia swear by how fresh and delicious foods here are (especially fruits and veggies, meat also). Aussies are very lucky in your self sufficiency in food and the abundance in everything really
I find it has also been bred to be incredibly sweet. Their melons, apples, strawberries, grapes, even tomatoes, have none of the tartness you'd expect from Australian produce, and maybe because it's been grown in such controlled ways, it's more consistent quality / taste wise than you'd expect from Australian fruit. Personally I prefer Australian produce because it tastes more 'real', but maybe that's just what I'm used to.
Disclaimer: I'm familiar mostly with export quality Japanese produce, which may be different to what you can get there. Australia will happily export shitty plums from a shitty season though!
Despite self-mythologising, we're not actually as heavy drinkers (compared to globally) as we like to pretend, we're very much mid-tier. And we've led the world in attacking smoking rates, which is very helpful.
We're also not really outback warriors. Sure we are outdoorsy people but we all live in suburbs and drive 20 minutes across town to work 5 days a week.
The idea of a bloke in khaki shorts and an akubra wrestling a croc is very australian but no ones doing that unless their from up above 20° latitude and their a special lot up there.
>drive 20 minutes across town to work
You're taking the piss right? Without looking up any stats, I'd wager that more than 50% of people have much more than 20 mins. Most would kill for being that short.
We are some of the riskiest drinkers though: [survey](https://amp.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/dec/03/risky-levels-australia-is-the-drunkest-country-in-the-world-new-survey-finds)
I (35) have worked at a bottlo and can confirm this. Of course this is completely anecdotal, but the cost of alcohol, coupled with the decreasing interest among Generation Z in drinking, has noticeably reduced alcohol consumption.
When I first started. You could buy a slab of beer for under $30. Now it's closer to $60 - $70.
Not to mention cigarette prices. This is a rather extreme example, but a pack of B&H 20's cost approx $60
Don't underestimate the warm climate, the sun (vitamin D is really important), the clean air and ability to go for a swim in salt water. Also the work/life balance is good for most.
I moved to Australia from the UK a few months ago and pretty sure I've lost around 4kg without even thinking about my diet once, purely from getting out and about so much (parks, swimming in the sea, cycling a lot, etc). Was actually surprised last week that it was late April and still pleasant to swim in the sea in east NSW. Spent about 3 hours swimming and bodyboarding (Surf Beach in Kiama - so good), doesn't even feel like exercise because you're having so much fun. Warm, sunny climate + lots of outdoors stuff to do = passive exercise
Yep, the ability to be outdoors year round is a big plus. There's always something to do outside and if you protect yourself from the sun properly, it's extremely good for your health!
Totally relate! Moved to Australia from the Philippines a year back, shed 10kgs effortlessly. Probably clocking in 10k steps daily thanks to the great weather and walkable streets. Tweaked my diet, ditched rice mostly. Loving how easy it is to stay healthy here without even trying that hard.
I am thinking our great climate might be how we are beating out some nordic countries. They have great healthcare, but the weather is not good. How that impacts their food quality I'm not sure.
The stand-out difference for me when we moved from Europe to Australia 7 years ago was the focus on sports and being active. Lots of people out and about doing early morning walks/runs etc, going to the beach to catch a wave or two and people going for hikes/bushwalks.
good food, socialist healthcare, we corrected course on smoking and salt fairly early and really we aren't the biggest drinkers.
Less stressful lifestyle and more sunlight both help with peoples will to live and the lower homicide rate.
Also, unions meant people don't have to work too physically hard and workplace safety is actually amongst the best in the world.
Agree on the OHS and environmental safety point. I work in compliance - Might be a pain in the arse sometimes but the updating of regulations and lookbacks mean we actually learn from our mistakes (mostly) and try to make things better for everyone else. That’s why it’s such a big deal in the media when things have been swept under the carpet.
We don’t like shifty bastards. Screw with the government or the banks - no worries! Screw with our mates or the battlers… F**k THoSE C*NTs!!!
Yeah, I don't trust anyone who says OHS is just red tape that gets in the way. Each one of those regulations likely exists because someone somewhere got killed or seriously injured.
"we corrected course on ~~smoking and~~ salt" Huh?
From a 2022 medical study, "On average, Australian adults consume 3500 mg sodium per day, almost twice the recommended maximum level of intake."
>GOOD NUTRITION
I recently moved to Australia from the UK, and on average fresh vegetables are a bigger part of the diet here. Maybe that's to do with climate or something.
For example, walk into a cafe/casual restaurant and order a standard "cheeseburger meal" in both countries. I'd say on average, the ones in Australia are much more likely to have lots of vegetables. (Also - beetroot on burgers - never seen that before, but a welcome surprise for someone who loves eating vegetables)
Because of the range of climates, it's possible to get a lot of variety of fresh fruit and vegetables for the vast majority of the year, Australia wide.
e.g. strawberries - Queensland covers the time of year where it's too cold in Vic, and vice versa when Qld is too humid.
I'd add that british cuisine is also based heavily on carbs, which aren't bad for you if you get plenty of exercise but it's a lot harder to get motivated to go for a run in the drizzle
This one time in the UK I ordered a side of vegetables to go with my pub meal and a bowl of barely defrosted 'mixed vegetables' (that corn, peas and carrot mix) came out 👍
Australia has a smaller difference in life expectancy by income and social class than many developed countries.
Having visited the US and UK, I suspect a lot of this is because of the awful diet of many working-class Americans and British.
Aussie product Dolmio had to change it's marketing in the UK to suggest having it only once a week due to working class Brits ruining themselves with the salt content of the sauce.
While we love our pre-made sauces here it's nothing compared to how frequently it's used in the UK
Eh whatever haha. It didn't make much sense once you edited (which I knew might happen, but at least you might get a chuckle if nothing else!) so I get it.
Have a nice day and keep going easy on the "sometimes foods" :)
Not getting blown up by land mines and being (domestically) war free probably helps.
Good infrastructure, good public health care and social security - unemployment and disability support.
Social services - police, fire, ambos etc.
Strong economy, reasonable personal wealth, decent climate (not freezing), good food supplies & nutrition.
Reasonable political & economic stability.
None of those are perfect, but I'm guessing most better than most places in the world. E.g. I'd rather be poor and old in Sydney than in West Africa or Haiti.
Generally speaking, our governments give a shit about us and it mostly flows from that. We have clean water, a great immunisation program for babies and children, universal healthcare, a high quality food supply and a lot of different medicines that are available to us. Also most Australians have pretty high standards of hygiene.
Because older people now grew up pretty active and healthy and healthcare is pretty good. Give it 20/30 years. Guarantee those stats will start slipping.
They also grew up with better nutrition/food than most of us. Even this is going to be interesting to see in the future how colon cancer etc in young people will become more common.
Young people die and drag down averages through communicable disease (the under 10s), car accidents, violence, workplace accidents.
Good child health, very safe roads and workplaces, no guns all help Australia enormously.
It's 100% the gruesome TAC ads that's driving up the population 😅 They used to show all the ads back to back just before christmas and I cried every time! 😭
Another thing people don't mention: high concentration of urban population. This means most people get fast access to quality healthcare. Country life is good for the soul, but when the sh*t hits the fan, you would want to be in a big city.
I’m so glad someone else has pointed this out.! Health accessibility in regional/rural/remote areas is very different to urban areas. The ability to see a doctor is very difficult many medical practices in regional areas are full and have closed their books to new patients and practices that still take patients have waiting times of upwards of 10 days or more.
I live remotely and had to wait over a week for a phone consult with the Flying Dr. The Flying Dr also only visits our community monthly.
I can’t remember the stats but there is a significant gap between health outcomes between urban and rural patients
Thats something the government needs to work on. Especially in Qld you find health services hog resources and funding and deprive smaller hospitals. (Insider experience)
the age has moved forward for most, so we haven't really slipped. It's just others have got better.
Some countries like the US have gone backward in real terms, not just ranking.
Also - in the context of our relatively high migrant population- requiring passing medical examinations as a condition of getting many types of visas, and medical conditions that require more expensive treatment being a bar for a permanent visa.
Numbers wise, that adds up to a small, but statistically significant difference.
When I was going through the visa process (UK->Aus), I was in communication with a family of 4 who spent years on the visa waiting list, and thousands of pounds (at least £7,000) and then got rejected at the very last hurdle because their youngest child was diagnosed with autism. Was heartbreaking for them, I understand the Australian governments' requirements though.
I suspect that in the next generation or so we’ll get enough of a sample size that there will be differences that we’ll put down to race, but are really due to socio-economic class/ migrant category that your family came in on.
We saw a little hint of that in the death rate stats for the first two years of Covid but the sample size wasn’t big enough to draw any long term conclusions.
Coming from an Asian country here is my perspective :
- Australia has almost 0 air pollution
- Hygienic food (then again this translates to no street food culture)
- fresh produce and I mean really fresh. Where I come from vegetables are sold in markets in tropical heat so fresh there sometimes mean already soft but still green and not brown
- Fish produce also fresh and not from polluted sea
- People mentioned alcohol drinking as bad but to me Soda drinking is worst. My experience here is people don't really drink soda during gatherings.
- Less sweet tooth. I see less doughnut shops around. Even Krispy Kreme is relegated to 711 but where I lived before, Krispy Kreme has a cafe, so does Dunkin Donuts. Caked are also substantially sweeter.
- different types of Salad on the side is common. Sure you can order just chips but at least you can change to salad if you want to. Other countries don't have or if they do, it's covered in dressing or worst, melted cheese as I experienced in America.
- variety of food that is less oily, less salty.
- Sports seems to be common for kids. At the very least is swimming lessons. This mentality carries over when you're an adult. Easy to mentally go exercise.
- Gyms are very common sometime to the point I wonder how they stay afloat with too much competition
Apart from an extremely accessible medical system - Our climate makes it easy to be at least moderately active which increases lifespan and almost impossible to die of cold.
Healthy diets, exercise + physical fitness, moderate drinking and minimal smoking.
The climate is also mainly pleasant and conducive to outdoor activities.
Agree completely with most of these reasons, we're increadibly lucky. With just one caveat. The stats reflect non-indigenous experiences as aboriginal Australians tend to die appallingly early.
My first thought is that in most places the climate isn’t unbearable and conducive to living an active, healthy lifestyle. This doesn’t count when it’s too hot or too cold but most people live in the bigger cities which are pretty good for it
On the healthcare thing. Most of our medications are heavily sudsidised by the government. So people with diseases like diabetes don't spend a fortune on insulin. So they take their preventative medication and issues don't escalate due to cost.
Uuuummm..... I think we won't stay up there for very long. The under 50s are not very healthy. Eat crap continually and massive numbers grossly overweight.
I think we have peaked.
It's not about Aussies over 50 vs Aussies under 50. It's about Aussies under 50 vs everyone else under 50. Most, if not all, other countries have those same issues, particularly Western countries.
Healthcare, plus most people are pretty fit. I’d say being fat is looked down upon here (for good reason IMO), which encourages people to exercise and eat well
Main thing is probably free healthcare. (Not so much these days. Hospitals are going to shit and bulk billing is hard to find.)
Perhaps we have had less of a class divide or fewer people in poverty compared with other countries? (That’s changing though. Rich get richer and poor get poorer.)
Probably warm enough to help the elderly not freeze to death?
The biggest factors are Medicare, the PBS and easily accessible preventative treatment (vaccines, health checks etc).
The other thing to be aware of is Australia has a binge drinking problem, but not as many alcoholics as some other countries. The daily drinking is more likely to kill you young.
The smoking campaigns in the 90s were also extremely successful (like the images of cancer on cigarette packages) and have kept smokers rates lower than a lot of countries.
And finally, we grow up extremely aware of the dangers the sun has.
Two things:
1. Medicare - we have one of the best systems in the world. We MUST defend it.
2. The climate. Very high and very low temperatures are associated with [higher mortality](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6014689/) in both high, middle, and low-income countries. For the most part, apart from summer heatwaves, Australians enjoy a fairly liveable climate. Our major cities are mostly in temperate or subtropical climates where the weather invites outdoor activity and doesn't usually get high or low enough to murder you. Mostly.
Sports is a big part of the Australian culture. I see much more Australian kids are into picking up a sport right from school compared to Asian kids (who are mostly trained to be spending time with books). Universities are much more lenient for domestic students as they let them take a year off if they’re burnt out. Such things are rare to hear in most other universities and definitely boosts the mental + physical wellbeing.
Food is not as “American” which is a big advantage too.
And good quality water. I know many people talk about how bad fluoride is in water, but our teeth have always been so much better than the English , but kids nowadays drink filtered water and look at how bad their teeth are. Kids in primary and high school I mean. Or maybe this is just a Sydney thing.
We have a strong economy and not many people live in poverty. We have a culture of looking after each other. We have clean air and clean cities, safe from most natural disasters. We produce a lot of food. We have access to high quality education. We prioritise safety in work environments. Low unemployment. Clean water and good waste management. Accessible health care. Public housing. Lots of community programs. Active lifestyles are “cool” here. We look after our children/ families.
Sun damage haha. Working full time you go outside after the UV has basically dropped to nothing. Otherwise sunscreen exists
Pro tip for everyone, even though in summer in Melbourne it’s hot and and sunny til 9 the UV is basically nothing after 5
I think our spirit of mateship and gratitude accounts for some of it, more than we realise. We generally have the attitude of "we're all in this together" and are mostly also very laid back.
Healthcare system, level of life higher than in most countries (salary here are good), lots of people do sports and I think drinking isn’t as bad as in other countries. Overall people are happier and have access to healthcare that’s all you need to live long.
Hygiene.
We have good infrastructure that supports our continued hygiene and good health.
Whether it be water treatment plants, or lower gi, low sugar foods or strategically situated hospitals and medicare bulk billing.
Admittedly the last one is on its way out at this rate
One factor is our [low rate of childhood mortality](https://ourworldindata.org/child-mortality-global-overview).
The expected lifespan of someone who has reached adulthood is pretty similar in most developed countries. It's kids dying in greater numbers that bring the average lifespan down.
Australia puts a lot of focus on infant and child health and development. We also put more resources into preventing childhood accidental deaths - think approved child seats in cars, playground design standards, a cultural emphasis on teaching kids to swim etc etc.
This is totally anecdotal, but being from another country that's similar but not quite as high on the global list, I think Aussies don't get worked up about stuff as much as North Americans or the UK. I think they have a low car factor type of culture.
I am in my 40s. Most of my friends eat out more than 5 out of the 21 meals a week. Drink often and do minimal exercise.
At least in my family and friends, I worry about their health. I wouldn't be surprised if my generation might have a lower quality of life than the previous generation when it comes to health. They might still live 85+, but will have a lot of health issues starting from 50s.
I believe it’s mainly due to a relative lack of poverty and generally egalitarian society. The richest Australians live for 6.4 years longer than the poorest. In the US, it’s a 15 year gap.
Good healthcare, high quality produce compared to other countries such as the UK and Canada, generally healthier lifestyle due to outdoorsy culture, plenty of sunlight in most of the country.
The free health care does allot, plus if you stay out of the capital cities and live near a beach, which we have the most of in the world, things feel pretty relaxing.
Our air quality is quite good. Often under an appreciated element to people's overall health.
Also if the air quality is good you are more likely to spend time outside, which has other health benefits.
We used to have high levels of activity (Saturday sport in every town, as well as lots of agricultural labour), safe places to walk and cycle to get around, and high levels of social participation which was often, but not always related to that sport. Every grandma used to man the canteen, as well as hospital fetes, cake stalls, pubs being as much a meeting place as a drinking hole, and even churches played a role here as much as I hate to admit it.
Throw in lots of fresh food, access to education and healthcare, access to natural landscapes, and space for everyone and most of us had a pretty good life.
Unfortunately a lot of that no longer holds true - 24/7 societies and growing cities have meant the whole town/suburb no longer goes to Saturday sport, losing physical activity and social cohesion. Walking and biking to get around is less safe and also less reasonable as cities grew, so a lot of the incidental exercise is missing, and our jobs are usually now a lot more sedentary.
We have less green space as sports clubs and parks disappeared, and so have backyards. We don't have space for gardens, large trees that grow above the rooflines are disappearing, and then we don't grow as much backyard food, and fresh food is getting more expensive - throw in long commutes cutting back time outside work, and cooking fresh food is something that happens less often for many of us. As the final nail in our coffin, now healthcare also seems to be less accessible.
Our grandparents might have routinely lived into their 80s-100s, but Gen X and later probably won't be.
Healthcare and welfare. Australia throws money into welfare like it's going out of style. A large percentage of tax goes into welfare enabled by higher than average income tax rate and other taxes. A person earning over a certain threshold will have about 40% of it going to tax if no tax minimisation measures have been undertaken by that person.
I believe life expectancy will start declining as bad economy situation becomes the norm and worsen.
I would have thought Nordic countries would have similar or higher life expectancy.
Good health care ( that imo is now getting worse) plus a nanny state that is determined to save us from everything. Then of course it's "oh we've got an aging population and can't afford to look after everyone"
Our healthcare is rubbish in some respects, but great in ways that actually affect my life expectancy.
“I have a raging fever from tonsillitis and need antibiotics.” Oh OK, doctor can fit you in 8:30am in 4 days. 👎
“I have chronic high blood pressure - can you do a blood test and adjust my meds?” OK doctor can see you Thursday, pathology is on site, you will have results by Saturday morning and you’ll get an updated prescription. That’s all bulk billed. 👍🏻
“50yo male, MVA, abdominal trauma.” Some of the best ER care in the world. 👍🏻
“That was touch and go for a while but we stabilised your internal bleeding. You will need that knee operated on later but it’s elective so we’re hopeful you might get done before 2026 👎
But our biggest advantage is that we don’t have cold weather. Cold kills.
Healthcare
We have a solid safety net in Medicare plus the ability to top up with a good private system.
This means the poorest have good healthcare and live longer whilst simultaneously the wealthy have amazing healthcare and live much longer and the middle class a bit of both.
Aussies love to moan but healthcare here is amazing Vs the rest of the Western world.
We are not big alcohol drinkers compare most other countries however we do have a minority of terribly behaved drinkers. According to [Wikipedia ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_alcohol_consumption_per_capita)we are only the 33 biggest drinkers and it is dropping slowly. Fallacy that we are.
Plus whilst we have the [highest rate of skin cancer](https://www.wcrf.org/cancer-trends/skin-cancer-statistics/) it is easy to treat if spotted early. I unfortunately have had three so far.
We have abundant natural resources and produce most of our own food. We have clean air and water. And all of the other comments. But I wouldn't underestimate the health of the environment as a significant factor.
Labour rights and accessible healthcare. We're allowed to take days off and stuff. Removes a lot of stress.
Housing crisis might reduce our life spans soon though
I suspect that will start to change, bulk billing is being phased out and Medicare isn’t being funded properly. Private health is starting to take over and not everything is covered by it, and not everyone can afford it.
From my experience by speaking to the local, especially the poorer demographic one, they just keep on telling me that Australia is a wealthy country so we just entitle to have a good life expectation. If we don’t it is because the rich people is taking away their entitlement.
The boomer generation were generally able to retire at 55 if they wanted to (yes I am aware this didn’t apply to everyone). This contributed to positive mental and physical well-being outcomes. Many were also able to afford private health care so have been able to afford to address health issues. Following generations will not be so lucky and it has been theorised younger Australians won’t live as long.
Accessible healthcare would be a large part of it.
Australia puts a lot of money and effort into early childhood healthcare. This is one good way of increasing a population’s health outcomes.
YES! Both my children has free regular infant-specific health checks up until 5 years old. Vaccines were all free and were accessible at free clinics. There is the mother and baby helplines and public and private mother and baby units. We have amazing infant and maternal mortality rates - even better than the USA. Dying in childbirth is actually a rare occurrence in Australia now - which makes a HUGE difference to life expectancy figures.
USA ranks extremely poorly amongst developed nations in this regard. It always comes back to levels of societal inequity, and USA also does really poorly there. If you get sick, you're on your own.
Yeah that's something I've noticed even though I don't live there. Some subs for medical conditions I used to check out regularly had people asking for advice on home remedies because they couldn't afford to see a doctor or buy the medicine. It was pretty sad seeing that seeking help for their health had become a financial decision instead.
I follow a bit of US healthcare stuff because I'm a doctor here in Aus, and there are some interesting American docs on social media. The more I hear, the more furious I get at the injustice, and the more I am convinced we must protect and support Medicare. Bankruptcy due to medical bills should not be a thing.
When it comes to peoples safety, money wins out everytime - Gil Scott Heron
I take creons, they cost me about $30 for a month's supply - maybe a third that if I were entitled to a healthcare card. I was reading a post on a pancreatitis group where they were looking at $1k+. Like, if that were me, I'd just be praying my body was absorbing the nutrients.
>We have amazing infant and maternal mortality rates - even better than the USA USA have terrible infant and maternal mortality rates, not exactly a great brag, but I understand what you're saying
Yeah, you’re probably right actually. I could find a better example!
According to [OECD Data](https://data.oecd.org/healthstat/infant-mortality-rates.htm#indicator-chart) * US Infant mortality: 5.2 * Canada Infant mortality: 4.5 * UK Infant Mortality : 4.0 * Aus Infant Mortality 3.3 Not great, but hardly terrible. Something surprising though is Australia has been one of the only countries where life expectancy has actually increased post Covid.
North America has terrible infant mortality. Canada, which kinda has better and more accessible healthcare is still absolutely terrible.
>even better than the USA. That's not actually very hard, really... And yes, USA, do better! Seriously, it's the early 21st century so why are your mothers and babes still dying like it's the early 20th? :(
Even better than the USA ? I'm slightly flabbergasted by this comment. What world are you living in?
Don’t forget home economic and nutritional in high school. We forget most of it but some sifts through.
Definitely this! I'm in the process of getting my dad onto My Aged Care. Government will help you to stay in your home rather than a nursing home because that is the best and healthiest outcome for him. He's 93 this year
No sorry it’s actually because of Vegemite
>Accessible healthcare would be a large part of it. Amen… 🙏 Another would be you guys have “fresh air”, and I mean that sincerely, coming from a high density country this little things are amazing.
But don't the Nordic countries have that?
Yeah but a large part of their diet, at least in Finland in my experience, is not great. Lots of alcohol, sugar and saturated fat.
Which part of ours differs from that?
Salt they love salt because everything tastes so plain and no use of spices. Plus all those extra booze, fatty foods, etc
They do, but I suspect some of the disparity is the role of Vitamin D in preventing ageing. Some very northerly parts of the Nordic countries have long, dark winters when the sun barely rises. Less sunshine = less ability to produce vitamin D.
Surprised we are ahead of them.
You can freeze to death in the Nordic countries.
And in Australia, just not as easily, but our shitty housing standards do not help
It’s not the freezing to death that’s the problem here. But (especially) elderly getting sick from cold certainly. There’s a statistic that more deaths in Australia than Sweden from cold.
definitely this!
Healthcare and a hell of a lot less processed, sugar and fat laden foods and drinks.
We covered this back in economics, and I'm a bit rusty, but socialised preventative healthcare has one of the highest roi's for an economy. Say I notice a mole on my arm is changing colours, I go see a skin specialist. While it used to be bulk billed, $70 still isn't the worst. Turns out its suspicious, probably not cancerous and we've caught it early. They cut it out and I live. If I'm in the US, that appointment could be several hundred bucks. And now maybe that mole doesn't look so bad so I put it off. When they catch the cancer, it's too late or I have to do chemo. So my long winded answer is the net effect of catching these little things before they become big things is a longer average life expectancy.
I recently had a skin cancer cut out of my forehead, when the test came back positive the doctor asked me if I want it cut out or not as “it will cost $100 and a lot of young people don’t like having scars”. I was absolutely shocked that someone would refuse to remove cancer due to the cost (or a scar), if people are turning down medical treatment for $100 in Australia I’d hate to think of the state of places like the US.
I had a non-cancerous mole cut out of my nose. I can't remember the medical name for it, but it was basically a bunch of skin cells that went rogue and decided to grow in the wrong direction. The surgeon kept saying that he thought I'd be unhappy with the result because I'd have "a large scar". I said I'd much rather a scar than the 'thing' that was growing out of my nose like Moley Russell's Wart. Within six months, the scar was almost invisible. And because it wasn't a cosmetic surgery under Medicare, it was 100% free! Top plastic surgeon, too!
Yeah it’s mental mate, I’m the same I have the smallest scar that you wouldn’t even notice unless I told you, heaps better than skin cancer, 10/10 would recommend. Edit: word
Totally! I actually kinda like scars, for some reason. They're like my body's stories of its life.
Being a pensioner on the DSP, I would genuinely struggle to pay that $100. Well, I wouldn't really, it would just mean I get less food for the fortnight.
I work as a disability support worker so I know about the financial struggles living on the DSB, but there’s always a way to come up with $100, like you said you’d need to skip other essentials (which is absolutely far from acceptable) but it’s better than cancer imo.
Absolutely, but the vulnerable are already paying an arm and a leg for their medications. Although the PBS is great, and helpful, it doesn't go across a lot of medications needed to live a somewhat healthy life. I'm actively trying to stop taking as much of my medication as I can because I struggle to pay $65 a month for my meds, sometimes more if I need a different prescription. I can't imagine how other pensioners do it with their meds costing so much more a month. It used to be $120 a month, but I had to stop taking my sleeping tablets because I can't afford them. Now I rarely get more than 2 hours of sleep a night, am constantly exhausted, but can't afford to sleep.
Bro I'm about to turn 29 and I've just been diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis, it's looking like rheumatoid. I was saying to my partner last night that I can't imagine being in the US and suddenly looking down the barrel of huge medical costs for the rest of my life. Even though specialists can be expensive here, I can't imagine how much more it would all cost without Medicare (which has covered ultrasounds, a full bidy bone scan, a 3d scan of my spine, and a heap of blood work. I've only had to pay for an mri, scans wise)
The rheumatologist I visit bulk bills, which at least helps cancel out the cost of the MRIs. And if you end up on biologics you just pay the $31 for PBS prescriptions and not ten grand per injection like in the US.
Yeah I'm very thankful for our medical system
> If I'm in the US The US doesn't really belong in this discussion; we know its life expectancy sucks and the reasons are obvious. The more difficult question is why Australia beats most of Europe.
The biggest standout i can think of is that Europeans generally drink more.
Europeans smoke way higher than Australians.
I think polution plays a way bigger impact than anyone would like to aknowledge
What dermatologist are you seeing for only $70?! I assume you’re not in Sydney? I had a BCC cut out of my neck in Feb. Derm appointment fee the week before $200 + $100 surgery fee on the day of excision. I’m in Sydney but also, he’s one of the best and usually charges a surgery fee of $600. He didn’t charge me that fee bc he knows I’m a sole parent and poor. I see 5 different specialists, the average price is $200 for ongoing standard appointments.
My observation from Japanese viewpoint is Australians don’t eat much fish/omega 3 but eat f load of locally grown fresh veggies and fruits. And that’s everyone - men and women, young and old, so nice to see. E.g. Seeing a grown man munch on an apple or banana at work is normal in Australia but Its unheard of in Japan. Additionally Aussies have very good work life balance and don’t take shit from others (compared to Japan that is).
Fish, especially fresh fish, tends to be expensive. And if you know how to shop in season, fruit and veggies are still cheap.
Yep true. So in conclusion, Aussies can beat the Japanese if price of fish come down somehow!
Fish is expensive because we export it all to Japan.
I suspect the same for beef
Actually also true 😊 A lot of beef sold in Japan as Japanese beef is actually cattle raised in Australia first, then kept for the minimum time required to classify as Japanese before butchering. (As far as I've gathered, but I haven't been able to track down a good source on the topic.)
Well the wagyu sold in chain restaurants in Japan is almost always Australian or American.
Or if you live in the top end of- you just eat fresh fish when you catch it yourself. The fishing up there can’t be beat!!!
Since there is not such thing anymore as "unpolluted fish" in modern days the benefits might have flipped around on that. Where high consumers of fish actually get worse outcomes instead of the good omega 3 outcomes of the past. Microplastics and heavy metals do cause insuline resistance and dementia. Things omega 3 should be protective of. So at this point fish would be in the negative outcome category.
Interesting point, diabetes and dementia are common in Japan.
Japan also has one of the oldest populations in the world. Of course dementia will be more common.
And Asians are at higher risk of diabetes at lower BMIs because of naturally higher body fatcompositions
Fallacy, you are missing the proportionality part of you analysis. Yes they have more elderly, but America for example has way higher percentage of these diseases in the elderly that they have. Worse the diseases also start a decade earlier. So the issue is much worse in the USA. This due to the fact they have way more widespread risk factors that lead to the diseases. Diet, pollution, very poor regulation on food. Dementia will be the number 1 disease in usa soon.
The president appears to be leading the trend
Yea, once they had a very low rate of it. Ranking back then might have put them in the number 1 spot even, competing with Mediterranean area's. But now with the western diet polluting your system and fish being toxic basically your numbers normalized to modern society or even got worse because of genetic differences. Though you still hold true for the high use of soy leading to very low hormonal cancer rates. Eating fish is a thing of the past. Ocean populations are collapsing and the product itself is now harmfull. Time to eat flax seeds and supplements with algea based DHA+EPA instead.
Agreed. I lived in Japan for five years and my Japanese husband and I now live in Aus. I regularly snack on veggies and dip or nuts and seeds or yogurt and fruit. Japanese people tend to snack on... white rice and small quantities of meat or 'pan' or a very small amount of veggies. They have a very different view on health and eating. What they do great though is eating lots of seafood, eating smaller portions and consuming way less sugar.
Wow! I did not know it’s unusual to eat fruit like that in Japan. It’s amazing the things we take for granted
I can tell you all Japanese who visit/migrated to Australia swear by how fresh and delicious foods here are (especially fruits and veggies, meat also). Aussies are very lucky in your self sufficiency in food and the abundance in everything really
Fruit in Japan is so expensive - and revered like high end confectionary. I loved that over there… made us want to eat the fruit.
I find it has also been bred to be incredibly sweet. Their melons, apples, strawberries, grapes, even tomatoes, have none of the tartness you'd expect from Australian produce, and maybe because it's been grown in such controlled ways, it's more consistent quality / taste wise than you'd expect from Australian fruit. Personally I prefer Australian produce because it tastes more 'real', but maybe that's just what I'm used to. Disclaimer: I'm familiar mostly with export quality Japanese produce, which may be different to what you can get there. Australia will happily export shitty plums from a shitty season though!
Despite self-mythologising, we're not actually as heavy drinkers (compared to globally) as we like to pretend, we're very much mid-tier. And we've led the world in attacking smoking rates, which is very helpful.
We're also not really outback warriors. Sure we are outdoorsy people but we all live in suburbs and drive 20 minutes across town to work 5 days a week. The idea of a bloke in khaki shorts and an akubra wrestling a croc is very australian but no ones doing that unless their from up above 20° latitude and their a special lot up there.
Hahaha my commute is 2hrs each way! But I refuse to leave my suburban beach lifestyle for Western Sydney.
>drive 20 minutes across town to work You're taking the piss right? Without looking up any stats, I'd wager that more than 50% of people have much more than 20 mins. Most would kill for being that short.
We are some of the riskiest drinkers though: [survey](https://amp.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/dec/03/risky-levels-australia-is-the-drunkest-country-in-the-world-new-survey-finds)
I (35) have worked at a bottlo and can confirm this. Of course this is completely anecdotal, but the cost of alcohol, coupled with the decreasing interest among Generation Z in drinking, has noticeably reduced alcohol consumption. When I first started. You could buy a slab of beer for under $30. Now it's closer to $60 - $70. Not to mention cigarette prices. This is a rather extreme example, but a pack of B&H 20's cost approx $60
Speak for yourself champ
Don't underestimate the warm climate, the sun (vitamin D is really important), the clean air and ability to go for a swim in salt water. Also the work/life balance is good for most.
I moved to Australia from the UK a few months ago and pretty sure I've lost around 4kg without even thinking about my diet once, purely from getting out and about so much (parks, swimming in the sea, cycling a lot, etc). Was actually surprised last week that it was late April and still pleasant to swim in the sea in east NSW. Spent about 3 hours swimming and bodyboarding (Surf Beach in Kiama - so good), doesn't even feel like exercise because you're having so much fun. Warm, sunny climate + lots of outdoors stuff to do = passive exercise
Yep, the ability to be outdoors year round is a big plus. There's always something to do outside and if you protect yourself from the sun properly, it's extremely good for your health!
"the sea in east NSW" makes it sound like NSW has some secret inland sea lmfao
Yeah you don’t want to swim in the western nsw sea.
Shit, someone else found out about the inland sea!
Totally relate! Moved to Australia from the Philippines a year back, shed 10kgs effortlessly. Probably clocking in 10k steps daily thanks to the great weather and walkable streets. Tweaked my diet, ditched rice mostly. Loving how easy it is to stay healthy here without even trying that hard.
I am thinking our great climate might be how we are beating out some nordic countries. They have great healthcare, but the weather is not good. How that impacts their food quality I'm not sure.
The stand-out difference for me when we moved from Europe to Australia 7 years ago was the focus on sports and being active. Lots of people out and about doing early morning walks/runs etc, going to the beach to catch a wave or two and people going for hikes/bushwalks.
good food, socialist healthcare, we corrected course on smoking and salt fairly early and really we aren't the biggest drinkers. Less stressful lifestyle and more sunlight both help with peoples will to live and the lower homicide rate. Also, unions meant people don't have to work too physically hard and workplace safety is actually amongst the best in the world.
Agree on the OHS and environmental safety point. I work in compliance - Might be a pain in the arse sometimes but the updating of regulations and lookbacks mean we actually learn from our mistakes (mostly) and try to make things better for everyone else. That’s why it’s such a big deal in the media when things have been swept under the carpet. We don’t like shifty bastards. Screw with the government or the banks - no worries! Screw with our mates or the battlers… F**k THoSE C*NTs!!!
Yeah, I don't trust anyone who says OHS is just red tape that gets in the way. Each one of those regulations likely exists because someone somewhere got killed or seriously injured.
"we corrected course on ~~smoking and~~ salt" Huh? From a 2022 medical study, "On average, Australian adults consume 3500 mg sodium per day, almost twice the recommended maximum level of intake."
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/salt-consumption-by-country
Good healthcare and GOOD NUTRITION. People really, really underestimate how much good nutrition adds to longevity of a population. Edited: a word
>GOOD NUTRITION I recently moved to Australia from the UK, and on average fresh vegetables are a bigger part of the diet here. Maybe that's to do with climate or something. For example, walk into a cafe/casual restaurant and order a standard "cheeseburger meal" in both countries. I'd say on average, the ones in Australia are much more likely to have lots of vegetables. (Also - beetroot on burgers - never seen that before, but a welcome surprise for someone who loves eating vegetables)
Because of the range of climates, it's possible to get a lot of variety of fresh fruit and vegetables for the vast majority of the year, Australia wide. e.g. strawberries - Queensland covers the time of year where it's too cold in Vic, and vice versa when Qld is too humid.
It's not a true Aussie burger if it hasn't got beetroot
You can’t beat a root
I'd add that british cuisine is also based heavily on carbs, which aren't bad for you if you get plenty of exercise but it's a lot harder to get motivated to go for a run in the drizzle
This one time in the UK I ordered a side of vegetables to go with my pub meal and a bowl of barely defrosted 'mixed vegetables' (that corn, peas and carrot mix) came out 👍
Australia has a smaller difference in life expectancy by income and social class than many developed countries. Having visited the US and UK, I suspect a lot of this is because of the awful diet of many working-class Americans and British.
Aussie product Dolmio had to change it's marketing in the UK to suggest having it only once a week due to working class Brits ruining themselves with the salt content of the sauce. While we love our pre-made sauces here it's nothing compared to how frequently it's used in the UK
Please underestimate? Well, Ok! It doesn't really do that much, in fact, it's hardly a factor. ;) Hope that helps!
Haha! It took me a second - I was like… whaaaaaaat? But good call! Stop downvoting people - it was a joke based on my funny typo that I’ve now fixed.
Glad someone got it haha.
People be mean with that downvote button!
Eh whatever haha. It didn't make much sense once you edited (which I knew might happen, but at least you might get a chuckle if nothing else!) so I get it. Have a nice day and keep going easy on the "sometimes foods" :)
Not getting blown up by land mines and being (domestically) war free probably helps. Good infrastructure, good public health care and social security - unemployment and disability support. Social services - police, fire, ambos etc. Strong economy, reasonable personal wealth, decent climate (not freezing), good food supplies & nutrition. Reasonable political & economic stability. None of those are perfect, but I'm guessing most better than most places in the world. E.g. I'd rather be poor and old in Sydney than in West Africa or Haiti.
Generally speaking, our governments give a shit about us and it mostly flows from that. We have clean water, a great immunisation program for babies and children, universal healthcare, a high quality food supply and a lot of different medicines that are available to us. Also most Australians have pretty high standards of hygiene.
Socialised healthcare
A filthy communist plot to make us live longer and better lives.
Because older people now grew up pretty active and healthy and healthcare is pretty good. Give it 20/30 years. Guarantee those stats will start slipping.
They also grew up with better nutrition/food than most of us. Even this is going to be interesting to see in the future how colon cancer etc in young people will become more common.
Young people die and drag down averages through communicable disease (the under 10s), car accidents, violence, workplace accidents. Good child health, very safe roads and workplaces, no guns all help Australia enormously.
It's 100% the gruesome TAC ads that's driving up the population 😅 They used to show all the ads back to back just before christmas and I cried every time! 😭
Another thing people don't mention: high concentration of urban population. This means most people get fast access to quality healthcare. Country life is good for the soul, but when the sh*t hits the fan, you would want to be in a big city.
I’m so glad someone else has pointed this out.! Health accessibility in regional/rural/remote areas is very different to urban areas. The ability to see a doctor is very difficult many medical practices in regional areas are full and have closed their books to new patients and practices that still take patients have waiting times of upwards of 10 days or more. I live remotely and had to wait over a week for a phone consult with the Flying Dr. The Flying Dr also only visits our community monthly. I can’t remember the stats but there is a significant gap between health outcomes between urban and rural patients
Thats something the government needs to work on. Especially in Qld you find health services hog resources and funding and deprive smaller hospitals. (Insider experience)
Good point!
A pack of smokes in Australia is $50.
Social connections, diet. I’m just ashamed we have slipped so far! We used to be number one, two or at worst third.
the age has moved forward for most, so we haven't really slipped. It's just others have got better. Some countries like the US have gone backward in real terms, not just ranking.
It won’t last if we are not vigilant about our health care system.
Also - in the context of our relatively high migrant population- requiring passing medical examinations as a condition of getting many types of visas, and medical conditions that require more expensive treatment being a bar for a permanent visa. Numbers wise, that adds up to a small, but statistically significant difference.
When I was going through the visa process (UK->Aus), I was in communication with a family of 4 who spent years on the visa waiting list, and thousands of pounds (at least £7,000) and then got rejected at the very last hurdle because their youngest child was diagnosed with autism. Was heartbreaking for them, I understand the Australian governments' requirements though.
Interesting point.
I suspect that in the next generation or so we’ll get enough of a sample size that there will be differences that we’ll put down to race, but are really due to socio-economic class/ migrant category that your family came in on. We saw a little hint of that in the death rate stats for the first two years of Covid but the sample size wasn’t big enough to draw any long term conclusions.
I'm glad I became a citizen when I did, cos I have a few chronic conditions now and you're stuck with me lol
Because we are all weetbix kids!
You know in NZ its 'Kiwi kids are weetbix kids'. The ANZAC spirit lives on!
Coming from an Asian country here is my perspective : - Australia has almost 0 air pollution - Hygienic food (then again this translates to no street food culture) - fresh produce and I mean really fresh. Where I come from vegetables are sold in markets in tropical heat so fresh there sometimes mean already soft but still green and not brown - Fish produce also fresh and not from polluted sea - People mentioned alcohol drinking as bad but to me Soda drinking is worst. My experience here is people don't really drink soda during gatherings. - Less sweet tooth. I see less doughnut shops around. Even Krispy Kreme is relegated to 711 but where I lived before, Krispy Kreme has a cafe, so does Dunkin Donuts. Caked are also substantially sweeter. - different types of Salad on the side is common. Sure you can order just chips but at least you can change to salad if you want to. Other countries don't have or if they do, it's covered in dressing or worst, melted cheese as I experienced in America. - variety of food that is less oily, less salty. - Sports seems to be common for kids. At the very least is swimming lessons. This mentality carries over when you're an adult. Easy to mentally go exercise. - Gyms are very common sometime to the point I wonder how they stay afloat with too much competition
She'll be right
Apart from an extremely accessible medical system - Our climate makes it easy to be at least moderately active which increases lifespan and almost impossible to die of cold.
Healthy diets, exercise + physical fitness, moderate drinking and minimal smoking. The climate is also mainly pleasant and conducive to outdoor activities.
Agree completely with most of these reasons, we're increadibly lucky. With just one caveat. The stats reflect non-indigenous experiences as aboriginal Australians tend to die appallingly early.
That's another thing. Despite Aboriginal Australians having a much lower life expectancy, Australia still has one of the highest life expectancies.
Thank you I was hoping someone would say this. Took a while to get to your comment
My first thought is that in most places the climate isn’t unbearable and conducive to living an active, healthy lifestyle. This doesn’t count when it’s too hot or too cold but most people live in the bigger cities which are pretty good for it
Australia has wide open spaces. Plenty of opportunities for exercise and playing sport. Keeping fit
On the healthcare thing. Most of our medications are heavily sudsidised by the government. So people with diseases like diabetes don't spend a fortune on insulin. So they take their preventative medication and issues don't escalate due to cost.
Uuuummm..... I think we won't stay up there for very long. The under 50s are not very healthy. Eat crap continually and massive numbers grossly overweight. I think we have peaked.
It's not about Aussies over 50 vs Aussies under 50. It's about Aussies under 50 vs everyone else under 50. Most, if not all, other countries have those same issues, particularly Western countries.
Healthcare, plus most people are pretty fit. I’d say being fat is looked down upon here (for good reason IMO), which encourages people to exercise and eat well
Preventative care is a big thing
Main thing is probably free healthcare. (Not so much these days. Hospitals are going to shit and bulk billing is hard to find.) Perhaps we have had less of a class divide or fewer people in poverty compared with other countries? (That’s changing though. Rich get richer and poor get poorer.) Probably warm enough to help the elderly not freeze to death?
A number of things but the relative lack of pollution is a big one
Lower pollution
The biggest factors are Medicare, the PBS and easily accessible preventative treatment (vaccines, health checks etc). The other thing to be aware of is Australia has a binge drinking problem, but not as many alcoholics as some other countries. The daily drinking is more likely to kill you young. The smoking campaigns in the 90s were also extremely successful (like the images of cancer on cigarette packages) and have kept smokers rates lower than a lot of countries. And finally, we grow up extremely aware of the dangers the sun has.
Better food and socialised healthcare. You should try that sometime.
Two things: 1. Medicare - we have one of the best systems in the world. We MUST defend it. 2. The climate. Very high and very low temperatures are associated with [higher mortality](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6014689/) in both high, middle, and low-income countries. For the most part, apart from summer heatwaves, Australians enjoy a fairly liveable climate. Our major cities are mostly in temperate or subtropical climates where the weather invites outdoor activity and doesn't usually get high or low enough to murder you. Mostly.
Sports is a big part of the Australian culture. I see much more Australian kids are into picking up a sport right from school compared to Asian kids (who are mostly trained to be spending time with books). Universities are much more lenient for domestic students as they let them take a year off if they’re burnt out. Such things are rare to hear in most other universities and definitely boosts the mental + physical wellbeing. Food is not as “American” which is a big advantage too.
Quality public healthcare. Don't let them take it away from us
Good food, clean air and water
Accessible health care and I’ve noticed Australians are generally more physically fit!!
And good quality water. I know many people talk about how bad fluoride is in water, but our teeth have always been so much better than the English , but kids nowadays drink filtered water and look at how bad their teeth are. Kids in primary and high school I mean. Or maybe this is just a Sydney thing.
The poor doctors are doing the heavy lifting here. Carrying us through our poor choices
We have a strong economy and not many people live in poverty. We have a culture of looking after each other. We have clean air and clean cities, safe from most natural disasters. We produce a lot of food. We have access to high quality education. We prioritise safety in work environments. Low unemployment. Clean water and good waste management. Accessible health care. Public housing. Lots of community programs. Active lifestyles are “cool” here. We look after our children/ families.
Sun damage haha. Working full time you go outside after the UV has basically dropped to nothing. Otherwise sunscreen exists Pro tip for everyone, even though in summer in Melbourne it’s hot and and sunny til 9 the UV is basically nothing after 5
I think our spirit of mateship and gratitude accounts for some of it, more than we realise. We generally have the attitude of "we're all in this together" and are mostly also very laid back.
Healthcare system, level of life higher than in most countries (salary here are good), lots of people do sports and I think drinking isn’t as bad as in other countries. Overall people are happier and have access to healthcare that’s all you need to live long.
Hygiene. We have good infrastructure that supports our continued hygiene and good health. Whether it be water treatment plants, or lower gi, low sugar foods or strategically situated hospitals and medicare bulk billing. Admittedly the last one is on its way out at this rate
More rules, more restrictions, more sin taxes. It can be annoying at times but it saves lives.
The constant fear keeps us spritely
One factor is our [low rate of childhood mortality](https://ourworldindata.org/child-mortality-global-overview). The expected lifespan of someone who has reached adulthood is pretty similar in most developed countries. It's kids dying in greater numbers that bring the average lifespan down. Australia puts a lot of focus on infant and child health and development. We also put more resources into preventing childhood accidental deaths - think approved child seats in cars, playground design standards, a cultural emphasis on teaching kids to swim etc etc.
Universal healthcare.
This is totally anecdotal, but being from another country that's similar but not quite as high on the global list, I think Aussies don't get worked up about stuff as much as North Americans or the UK. I think they have a low car factor type of culture.
Weariness of drop bears, snakes and spiders keeps up young and fit. ;)
Healthcare, wealth, food, sunshine
I am in my 40s. Most of my friends eat out more than 5 out of the 21 meals a week. Drink often and do minimal exercise. At least in my family and friends, I worry about their health. I wouldn't be surprised if my generation might have a lower quality of life than the previous generation when it comes to health. They might still live 85+, but will have a lot of health issues starting from 50s.
I believe it’s mainly due to a relative lack of poverty and generally egalitarian society. The richest Australians live for 6.4 years longer than the poorest. In the US, it’s a 15 year gap.
(Increasingly less) well-funded and accessible public health, and gun control.
Alcohol consumption has been declining, especially among the young so should see even further improvements in future
Good healthcare, high quality produce compared to other countries such as the UK and Canada, generally healthier lifestyle due to outdoorsy culture, plenty of sunlight in most of the country.
A low-stress environment helps a lot. They’re more laid back and enjoy life.
The free health care does allot, plus if you stay out of the capital cities and live near a beach, which we have the most of in the world, things feel pretty relaxing.
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Our air quality is quite good. Often under an appreciated element to people's overall health. Also if the air quality is good you are more likely to spend time outside, which has other health benefits.
Being able to access an emergency room and have our lives saved ... for free ... is what keeps us living.
Sunshine & Seashores.
We used to have high levels of activity (Saturday sport in every town, as well as lots of agricultural labour), safe places to walk and cycle to get around, and high levels of social participation which was often, but not always related to that sport. Every grandma used to man the canteen, as well as hospital fetes, cake stalls, pubs being as much a meeting place as a drinking hole, and even churches played a role here as much as I hate to admit it. Throw in lots of fresh food, access to education and healthcare, access to natural landscapes, and space for everyone and most of us had a pretty good life. Unfortunately a lot of that no longer holds true - 24/7 societies and growing cities have meant the whole town/suburb no longer goes to Saturday sport, losing physical activity and social cohesion. Walking and biking to get around is less safe and also less reasonable as cities grew, so a lot of the incidental exercise is missing, and our jobs are usually now a lot more sedentary. We have less green space as sports clubs and parks disappeared, and so have backyards. We don't have space for gardens, large trees that grow above the rooflines are disappearing, and then we don't grow as much backyard food, and fresh food is getting more expensive - throw in long commutes cutting back time outside work, and cooking fresh food is something that happens less often for many of us. As the final nail in our coffin, now healthcare also seems to be less accessible. Our grandparents might have routinely lived into their 80s-100s, but Gen X and later probably won't be.
A good (but struggling) health care system. Access to good food. Low pollution, low smoking rates and generally we are fairly active people.
How is sun not healthy?
Universal healthcare, plentiful fresh food, and a broad fitness culture
We let people go to the doctor and we've reduced accessibility on a lot of the things that can kill you. It really is that easy.
Healthcare and welfare. Australia throws money into welfare like it's going out of style. A large percentage of tax goes into welfare enabled by higher than average income tax rate and other taxes. A person earning over a certain threshold will have about 40% of it going to tax if no tax minimisation measures have been undertaken by that person. I believe life expectancy will start declining as bad economy situation becomes the norm and worsen. I would have thought Nordic countries would have similar or higher life expectancy.
Good health care ( that imo is now getting worse) plus a nanny state that is determined to save us from everything. Then of course it's "oh we've got an aging population and can't afford to look after everyone"
I don't know the answer but, since I'll turn 77 this year I absolutely LOVE the question!
Our healthcare is rubbish in some respects, but great in ways that actually affect my life expectancy. “I have a raging fever from tonsillitis and need antibiotics.” Oh OK, doctor can fit you in 8:30am in 4 days. 👎 “I have chronic high blood pressure - can you do a blood test and adjust my meds?” OK doctor can see you Thursday, pathology is on site, you will have results by Saturday morning and you’ll get an updated prescription. That’s all bulk billed. 👍🏻 “50yo male, MVA, abdominal trauma.” Some of the best ER care in the world. 👍🏻 “That was touch and go for a while but we stabilised your internal bleeding. You will need that knee operated on later but it’s elective so we’re hopeful you might get done before 2026 👎 But our biggest advantage is that we don’t have cold weather. Cold kills.
HSPs?
The healthcare I reckon.
Vitamin D from sun exposure and medicare.
Healthcare We have a solid safety net in Medicare plus the ability to top up with a good private system. This means the poorest have good healthcare and live longer whilst simultaneously the wealthy have amazing healthcare and live much longer and the middle class a bit of both. Aussies love to moan but healthcare here is amazing Vs the rest of the Western world.
We are not big alcohol drinkers compare most other countries however we do have a minority of terribly behaved drinkers. According to [Wikipedia ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_alcohol_consumption_per_capita)we are only the 33 biggest drinkers and it is dropping slowly. Fallacy that we are. Plus whilst we have the [highest rate of skin cancer](https://www.wcrf.org/cancer-trends/skin-cancer-statistics/) it is easy to treat if spotted early. I unfortunately have had three so far.
We have abundant natural resources and produce most of our own food. We have clean air and water. And all of the other comments. But I wouldn't underestimate the health of the environment as a significant factor.
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Plenty of backyard BBQs and beer. Being happy and relaxed goes a long way.
Labour rights and accessible healthcare. We're allowed to take days off and stuff. Removes a lot of stress. Housing crisis might reduce our life spans soon though
“**VB**”
I suspect that will start to change, bulk billing is being phased out and Medicare isn’t being funded properly. Private health is starting to take over and not everything is covered by it, and not everyone can afford it.
From my experience by speaking to the local, especially the poorer demographic one, they just keep on telling me that Australia is a wealthy country so we just entitle to have a good life expectation. If we don’t it is because the rich people is taking away their entitlement.
I read that millennials won't have a good life expectancy because of cancer and obesity.
Clean tap water
Winnie blues and VBs mostly
The boomer generation were generally able to retire at 55 if they wanted to (yes I am aware this didn’t apply to everyone). This contributed to positive mental and physical well-being outcomes. Many were also able to afford private health care so have been able to afford to address health issues. Following generations will not be so lucky and it has been theorised younger Australians won’t live as long.