Suburbs with Highest and Lowest Life Expectancy Revealed

Got walking frame? Where you live in Australia can influence your life expectancy, a new study has revealed.

Research by Torrens University showed the suburbs and neighbourhoods where Australians have the longest and shortest life spans.

Ashburton in Melbourne’s south-east, and the areas of Unley and Parkside, south of Adelaide’s centre, took out joint first place for the highest median age at death in Australia. They both came in at 89 years.

The lowest median age at death among cities and their suburbs was Melbourne’s CBD at 59 years, followed by the Forrestdale, Harrisdale, Piara Waters areas in Perth with 62 years.

Nationwide the overall lowest median age at death nationwide was found in regional areas: Newman in Western Australia, the APY Lands in South Australia and remote Northern Territory communities.

The suburb comparisons revealed there were “significant disparities” in neighbourhoods, despite some being a similar distance from the CBD.

Professor John Glover, from the Public Health Information Development Unit (PHIDU) at Torrens University, said various factors influenced residents’ lifespan.

“Variations in the median age at death between suburbs are impacted by many factors including socioeconomic disadvantage, as influenced by unemployment, education, housing and income,” he said.

“Events like road traffic accidents among young people lower the median age, and the location of residential aged care facilities raise the median age.”

However, socioeconomic disadvantage was a “strong influence” in life expectancy, Professor Glover said. “Socioeconomic disadvantage is clearly evident in the pattern of potential years of life lost across our capital cities,” he said.

“Regardless of variations between areas, I expect the data will place those areas with lower lifespans under the spotlight, and hope that social and health policymakers, agencies and providers will be informed by these data, investigate the causes and further consider the needs of people in these areas.”

Ashburton resident Judith Cameron said she was surprised her suburb came out in first place.

“I wouldn’t have thought,” she said. “I thought there would have been other suburbs that would have been better than Ashburton.”

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