Fed: Heart attacks, cancer cause of nearly 50 pct of deaths: ABS

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Fed: Heart attacks, cancer cause of nearly 50 pct of deaths: ABS

By Sandra O'Malley

CANBERRA, Dec 10 AAP - Heart attacks and cancer accounted for nearly 50 per cent ofall deaths in Australia last year, a new report shows.

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), released today, showed thatcancer and heart disease were responsible for 28.5 per cent and 20.4 per cent of deathsrespectively in 2001.

In total, 128,544 deaths were registered last year, made up of a slightly higher proportionof men than women: 66,835 compared to 61,709.

The report showed that over the past decade the death rate from cancer had increased,while it had gone down for heart disease.

Although cancer and heart disease were also the two biggest killers 10 years ago, in1991 both diseases were each responsible for 26 per cent of deaths.

Nearly one in five cancer deaths last year were related to lung cancer.

Stroke was the third biggest killer in Australia, responsible for 9.4 per cent of deaths,followed by lower respiratory diseases like asthma, emphysema and bronchitis, which accountedfor 4.6 per cent of deaths.

The ABS figures also showed a growing life expectancy for Australians.

A boy born between 1999 and 2001 could expect to live to 77 years, while for a girlthat rises to 82.4 years.

Since 1981, life expectancy at birth has increased by six years for males and fouryears for females.

Women born in Australia can expect to live longer than women from Canada, Greece andNew Zealand (81 years), as well as the British and Americans (80 years).

Compared to other Western nations, Australian males have a better life expectancy thatNew Zealanders (76 years), British (75 years) and Americans (74 years).

Japanese males beat their Australian counterparts with a life expectancy of 78 years.

Across Australia, life expectancy for men and women can vary by as much as 11 years.

Male life expectancy was highest for men born in Canberra (79 years), while it waslowest for a man born in the Northern Territory (68 years).

Women in the Northern Territory also had a lower life expectancy (73 years), whileit was 83 years for girls born in parts of Queensland, Perth, Canberra, Melbourne andthe south-west of WA.

AAP so/kjp/ldj/sb

KEYWORD: DEATHS