 Australia has the third and seventh highest life expectancy of males and females respectively in the world . Life expectancy in Australia in 2010 was 79 @.@ 5 years for males and 84 @.@ 0 years for females . Australia has the highest rates of skin cancer in the world , while cigarette smoking is the largest preventable cause of death and disease , responsible for 7 @.@ 8 % of the total mortality and disease . Ranked second in preventable causes is hypertension at 7 @.@ 6 % , with obesity third at 7 @.@ 5 % . Australia ranks 35th in the world and near the top of developed nations for its proportion of obese adults and nearly two thirds ( 63 % ) of its adult population is either overweight or obese . 
