Much of the increase between 1995-1998 and 2001-2004 was for life expectancy at higher ages, with little or no increase occurring at very young ages.
These disparities are reflected in indicators that include lower life expectancy at birth, higher rates of death and illness, and higher rates of injury and disability among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people than among other Australians [ 6, 7].
People in developed economies are living longer, with life expectancy at their highest level and population projections predicting significant increases in the total number of older people.
Infant mortality is low, and the average life expectancy at birth is high.
Life expectancy at birth was high in Thailand and Sri Lanka with 73.0 years and 72.3 years respectively, when Timor-Leste had the lowest (57.8 years).
Currently, closing the life table at age 65, both sexes combined, would produce an upward bias in life expectancy at birth as high as 10 years in some countries and more than 2.5 years in many other cases.
Due to the higher HIV prevalence in South Africa, and despite a higher infant mortality rate in Uganda (63 per 1000 live births) than in South Africa (41 per 1000 births), life expectancy at birth is higher in Uganda (54 years) than South Africa (52 years) (43), which could partly be explained by high mortality due to HIV and accidents in early adulthood (44).
Life expectancy at birth is higher than the eastern European average, and the infant mortality rate is significantly lower.
Although life expectancy at birth is higher for females (74.4 years) than males (69.2 years) in Turkey, and elderly females slightly outnumber males in the population [ 3, 44], more males thanfemales were included in our study group.
