It seems Aussies are living longer thanks to our COVID-19 lockdowns.
A new study conducted by the Australian National University found Australians now have one of the longest life expectancies in the world, adding an additional 8 months during 2020.
For Aussie women, the average life expectancy now sits at 85.8 years while for men it’s now 81.7
ANU Professor Vladimir Canudas-Romo said restrictions that were introduced to help to prevent the spread of the virus, also reduced the rates of other disease.
“Respiratory diseases, infectious diseases etc. because we had social distancing but what we didn’t expect to see things like cancers, strokes and heart attacks also go down during this time.”
That’s in stark contrast to the United States who saw a decline of up to 2.2 years in the average life expectancy of Americans due to its slow response to the threat of COVID-19.
“Australia was in a unique position to be able to close borders to the rest of the world.”
“Now with the strong compliance on vaccinations, we are likely to be one of the safest places in the world.”
While Australia now boasts the largest increase of the 30 countries included in the study, Canudas-Romo said it only measures life expectancy not how well we live.
“All of these lockdowns, particularly in Melbourne, they took a toll on our mental health and other issues.”
“So now is the time we need to take care of our families and our community because there are a many people who will need help in time to come.”
