CANBERRA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Australian men have a life expectancy five years longer than they did 21 years ago, new health data has revealed.
The figures, released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Friday, showed that boys born in Australia today would live to 80.4 years old on average, compared to boys born in 1995 who would live to an average age of 75.
Paul Jelfs, ABS general manager of Population of Social Statistics, said the rising lifespan could be largely attributed to the decreasing rate of smoking and drinking.
"The daily smoking rate for Australian men has dropped from 27 per cent in 1995 to 17 per cent currently," Jelfs said in an ABS media release on Friday.
"Over the past decade, risky drinking has been dropping, with around one quarter of men drinking more than two standard drinks a day currently, down from one third in 2004-2005."
But not all the data was positive for Australian men, with the ABS figures revealing that 71 percent of men aged 18 years and over are overweight or obese, up from 64 percent in 1995.
"The types of food consumed and how active men are can impact their overall health," Jelfs said.
"While diets high in added sugars can be associated with weight gain, physical activity helps to maintain good health."
Australian men aged 19 years and over consumed 59 grams of added sugar, or 14 teaspoons, on average every day.
"Meanwhile around half (49 percent) of Australian men aged 18-64 years participated in sufficient physical activity of 150 minutes a week over five sessions," Jelfs said.
