LOOKING to live to a ripe old age? A triumvirate of sun, sand and surf may be the key if you're a woman, while men might do well to consider relocating to cooler climes.

Minister for Ageing Justine Elliot yesterday released a list of regions where populations enjoy Australia's highest life expectancies, with Queensland's Sunshine Coast leading the way for women and Melbourne and Canberra for men.

The Sunshine Coast boasts the country's longest life expectancy for women at 84.7 years, while the agricultural area southeast of Perth follows closely behind with an average of 84.6 years.

For men, Melbourne and Canberra tie, with men in the two cities averaging 80 years, followed by Perth with 79.8 years and Sydney with 79.7. Overall, the ACT has the highest life expectancy of any state or territory, with men living on average for 80 years and women for 83.9 years.
 

Drawing on recent reports from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Ms Elliot said Australians' overall average life expectancy of 81.4years was second only to Japan. According to the figures, Australian women enjoy the fifth-highest life expectancy in the world at 83.7 years. Australian men enjoy the second highest, with an average of 79years, ahead of Japanese men, who can expect to live for 78.7 years, but behind men in Iceland, who can expect to live for 79.2 years.

"Australians are living longer because of advances in medicine and active lifestyles," Ms Elliot said yesterday. She said ageing baby boomers were challenging traditional notions of what it meant to grow old. "We are now seeing baby boomers begin to retire (and) they are changing ageing forever," she said. "An ageing population creates so many opportunities. We can learn so much from the wisdom, knowledge and experience of older Australians."

However, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders can expect to live for roughly 17 years less than their non-indigenous counterparts. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has said his Government aims to close this life expectancy gap within a generation.

There are currently 2.8 million Australians aged 65 and over. Within 40 years, that number is expected to almost triple to about seven million. Similarly, there are about 2800 Australians aged 100 years or over, a number tipped to climb to 78,000 by 2055.