People are living longer, but are more likely to be overweight and suffer diabetes or another chronic disease, a snapshot of Australians' health shows.

Life expectancy is continuing to improve, now averaging 83.3 years for females at birth and 78.5 years for males.

But about 77 per cent of the population reported one or more long-term health conditions, according to figures in the Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) 2008 year book.

Eyesight problems were the most common, and about one in five people reported arthritis, back problems or hay fever.

About 10 per cent of Australians suffered asthma and about one in 20 had diabetes, the results of the last National Health Survey, in 2004-05, show.

And 2.1 million people - 11 per cent of the population - reported having long-term mental health or behavioral problems.
 

More than 340,000 Australians were estimated to have a malignant cancer in 2004-05 - representing almost two per cent of the population - and cancer killed almost 40,000 people in 2005.

In total, about 130,700 people died in 2005, with heart attacks the leading cause of death for both genders, followed by lung cancer for men and strokes for women.

"Chronic disease is a growing problem in Australia as the population ages," the ABS found.

About six per cent of deaths overall were from "external causes", which takes in suicide, injuries and poisonings.

Compared with a decade earlier, more adults had lifestyles in 2005 that were putting their health at risk through alcohol or excess weight, although the rates of people smoking and failing to exercise were about the same.

More than half of all adults - or 7.4 million people - were considered overweight or obese in 2004-05, a nine per cent increase since 1995.

Meanwhile, households are spending more of their budget on health and medical care, rising from 3.9 per cent in 1984 to 5.1 per cent in 2003-04.

Total health expenditure - including spending by individuals, governments and private insurance companies - increased 7.1 per cent in 2005-06 from the previous year to $86.9 billion.

The figure represents about $4,200 per person.