24th March, 2006

Indigenous Australians are dying 20 years younger than other Australians and experience disability and reduced quality of life due to poor health at much higher rates, according to new research from Oxfam Australia.

A report released earlier this month shows that indigenous males have a life expectancy of 59 years and indigenous women 65 years compared to 77 years for non-indigenous males and 82 years for non-indigenous women.

Andrew Hewitt, executive director of Oxfam Australia, says that while 30 years ago Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians lived for the same number of years as New Zealand’s Maoris and Canada’s First Nations, significant gains in life expectancy have been made in New Zealand and Canada leaving the life expectancies of indigenous Australians low and “comparable to that of much poorer Commonwealth countries such as India, Pakistan, Guyana and Bangladesh”.

The report also shows that while there have been health improvements which will lead to a decline in mortality in some parts of Australia, indigenous adults still die at three times the rate of the rest of the population.

Death rates from diabetes are between seven and 20 times higher than those for the non-indigenous population, four to five times higher for circulatory system diseases and five to six times as high for respiratory diseases.

- www.oxfam.org.au

- DAVID ADAMS