Australia is one of the healthiest nations in the world, taking great strides in many health areas-but there are groups whose health still lags behind, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's latest national report card on health. The report, Australia's Health 2008, launched yesterday by Health Minister Nicola Roxon at the 'Australia's Health 2008' conference in Canberra, shows falling death rates for cancer, heart disease, strokes, and injury.
The report also shows that Australians enjoy one of the highest life expectancies in the world-an average of 81.4 years, second only to Japan.
Australian men reaching the age of 65 can now expect to live to about 83 years, and women to 86 years-about 6 years more than their counterparts a century ago. Disadvantaged Australians, wherever they live, are more likely to have shorter lives, higher levels of disease risk factors and lower use of preventive health services.
The full report can be viewed online here.
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