Australian females have the highest life expectancy on record, according to the latest national figures.

Female life expectancy increased to 84.6 years last year, the sixth-highest in the world, the Australian Bureau of Statistics says.

The figure was up from 84.5 the previous year and 83.5 in 2006.

Japanese women have the highest life expectancy at 86.4 years.

Australian male life expectancy was steady at 80.4, with only Iceland and Switzerland ahead on 80.6 and 80.5 respectively.

ACT recorded the highest male life expectancy among states and territories last year at 81.3, followed by Victoria (81.2), NSW and SA (both 80.4), WA (80.3), Queensland (80.1), Tasmania (78.8) and NT (75.6).

Among women, ACT led on 85.2, followed by WA (84.8), Victoria (84.7), NSW (84.6), Queensland and SA (both 84.5), Tasmania (82.9) and NT (78.7).

Life expectancy in Australia increased by 33.2 years for males and 33.7 years for females from 1890 to 2015.

The bureau’s Director of Demography Beidar Cho says while improvements among infants used to contribute the most to life expectancy gains, recently this factor has declined, reflecting a “major shift” in cause of death from infectious to chronic diseases.

In 2015 the infant mortality rate was the lowest on record at 3.2 per 1000 live births, compared with about 67 in 1915.