A study of death rates over the last century shows public-health improvements have contributed to longer lifespans for Australians.
The study, by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, shows today's Australians live about 25 years longer than their great-grandparents did a century ago.
Research analyst Krys Sadkowsky says an important finding is the number of men dying from smoking-related conditions has dropped by 30 per cent.
But he says the findings for women are not as good.
"Unfortunately, for females who took up smoking a lot later than males and at lower rates, their peak hasn't come yet."
"Since 1945, their rates have increased from three deaths to 22 deaths per 100,000."
"We expect that, given there's a latency period of about 20 years for lung cancer to develop after tobacco smoking, we expect it will probably continue rising for a few more years yet."