The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Tuesday said that the male life expectancy has grown 1.5 years in the last decade to a record-high 80.5 years.

Female life expectancy was 84.6 years, meaning that the life expectancy gap between the two genders continue to shrink.

"Australian males can now expect to live 10.8 years longer than the world average of 69.7 years, according to the United Nations 2015-2020 estimates," ABS Demography Director Anthony Grubb said in a media release on Tuesday.

"Female life expectancy in 2017 remained the same as the previous year (84.6 years) and compares to the global average of 74.3 years," Grubb said.

Australia's male life expectancy has grown by 12.9 years since the 1960s compared to 10.4 years for females.

"Australians have a higher life expectancy than our counterparts in New Zealand, the United Kingdom (Britain) and the USA," Grubb said.

Victoria had the highest life expectancy among the six Australian states and two territories at 81.3 years followed by the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) while the reverse was true for females with the ACT leading the way.

The Northern Territory, the smallest of Australia's states and territories by population, had the shortest life expectancy among males and females at 75.9 and 79.4 years, respectively.

However, male life expectancy in the NT grew by 3.5 years in the last decade, comfortably the biggest growth by either gender in any state or territory.