During 25 years reporting about economics I’ve learnt one indicator tells you more than any other about a nation’s welfare: longevity. Show me a nation where citizens can expect to live long, healthy lives, and I’ll show you a place that is getting plenty of things right.

The good news is that Australia excels when it comes to life spans. An international league table published recently by the Bureau of Statistics ranked Australia third in the world for life expectancy at 84.53 years just behind Japan (84.78) and Monaco (85.95). Aussie blokes do even better, coming in at No.2 in the world for life expectancy. Australian women have longer life expectancy than men but were ranked sixth.

Illustration by Simon LetchCredit:

The longevity that Australians enjoy has been underpinned by a precious national asset: our health system. Last month, the internationally renowned US think tank, the Commonwealth Foundation, compared 10 of the world’s leading national health systems and rated Australia No.1.

What’s more, that top ranking was achieved even though the share of GDP Australia spends on healthcare, around 10 per cent, was lower than every other nation in the study. The US, for instance, allocates over 16 per cent of GDP to healthcare but had far worse outcomes. Life expectancy in America is just over 77 years.

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