CANBERRA, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Australians are living longer than ever before, more than a decade longer than they were 50 years ago, according to the latest national data.

Life expectancy in Australia has reached record highs with a boy born today expected to live to 80.7 years and a girl to 84.9 years, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Wednesday.

Around 50 years ago (1965-67), life expectancy at birth in Australia was 67.6 years for males and 74.2 years for females.

"Male life expectancy has increased by 0.2 years over the 2015-2017 to 2016-2018 period, and by 1.5 years in the past 10 years. Female life expectancy has increased by 0.3 years during the same period, and by 1.2 years in the past decade," ABS Demography Director Beidar Cho said in a statement on Wednesday.

As to the states and territories, Victoria recorded the highest male life expectancy (81.7 years), followed by the Australian Capital Territory (81.2 years), New South Wales (80.6 years), Western Australia (80.5 years), South Australia (80.4 years), Queensland (80.2 years) and Tasmania (79.3 years).

The Northern Territory, which has experienced problems with the health of its indigenous population, recorded the lowest life expectancy for both males and females (75.5 years and 80.2 years, respectively.)

Despite this, male and female life expectancies in the Northern Territory showed the greatest gains of all the states and territories, over the last decade (2.9 years and 1.8 years). Enditem

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