2020’s days in lockdown seemed endless, but Australian National University (ANU) researchers say they have found a silver lining: Australians’ life expectancy jumped by around 8.4 months.
Pandemic restrictions led to longer lives because other infectious diseases were not being spread, and there were fewer fatal road accidents.
Life expectancy increased by 0.7 years from 2019 to 2020 for both men and women – more than the annual increase of 0.09 to 0.14 years (around one to two months) seen from 2015 to 2019.
The Australian increase was the greatest increase of all the countries looked at in the ANU study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
Denmark and Norway had the next highest increases, both with 0.1 and 0.2 years for women and men respectively.
In the United States, however, life expectancy decreased, by -1.7 for women and -2.2 years for men.
The researchers said Australia’s quick response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including closing borders and implementing lockdowns, made the difference.
“Australia was in a unique position to be able to close borders to the rest of the world,” study co-author Professor Vladimir Canudas-Romo said. “Now with the strong compliance on vaccinations, we are likely to be one of the safest places in the world.
“During the 1918 Spanish flu, attempts were made to close borders. Yet, once ports opened, the lack of a vaccination meant the virus spread with fatal effects. With modern-day vaccines, Australia has been able to escape this deadly fate.”
The spread of other infectious diseases sharply declined during Australia’s lockdowns, due to COVID-19 containment measures.
For example, deaths from pneumonia or influenza fell by 20 per cent.
Fewer people died from non-infectious diseases, too, including cancer and cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks and strokes, Professor Canudas-Romo said.
Because fewer people travelled in 2020, there were fewer road traffic accidents.
Associate Professor Brian Houle, the study’s co-author, wonders whether this increased life expectancy will continue in a post-pandemic Australia.
“It’s hard to make a long-term assessment for this unusual increase,” he said. “If working from home remains popular, with fewer people on the road commuting at peak times, that might result in reduced road accidents compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic.”
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