That 19-year longevity gap is emblematic of striking disparities in health and economic welfare across relatively small distances in Greater Sydney.
Virtually all Sydney suburbs with a median death age between 86 and 88 years the highest band of longevity were in wealthy areas to the citys north and east.
However, three quarters of districts with the lowest longevity those with a median death age of between 69 and 72 years were in less wealthy parts of west and south-western Sydney.
The median age at death for the whole of Greater Sydney was 81 years between 2014 and 2018 (the median being the midpoint of all death ages in that period).
Professor John Glover, the director of PHIDU, said the huge divide across Sydney was driven by layers of socio-economic disadvantage which contribute to much poorer health outcomes in some neighbourhoods.
Although disturbing, the statistics on median age of death hide as much as they reveal because they do not tell us about the life-long burden of poor health, stress and disability which is endured by many, he said.
Kittu Randhawa, chief executive officer of the Community Resource Network, a peak body for social service organisations in western Sydney, said it is a shame on our city to have a difference in lifespans of almost two decades between suburbs located so close together.
With a divide like that youd think we were talking about two different countries, she said. Its certainly not the Australia that everyone likes to brag about.
The heartbreak experienced by Joyce Davison during the past four years draws attention to the human cost of Sydneys health divide.
The 71-year old Dunghutti woman, who has lived in Bidwill for 45 years, lost her husband Ronnie four years ago.
He was admitted to Nepean Hospital for something simple by a local GP but never came home. He ended up catching golden staph in there, Mrs Davison said. Mr Davison died a few days after Christmas 2016 aged 68. The couple had been together for 48 years.
But tragedy has struck the family twice more since. In 2018 Mrs Davisons daughter, Rita, died from a heart attack at the age of 46. Ten months later, her third child, Ronald, passed away due to pneumonia aged 45.
My son had always been a sickly child from the age of 12 months old, she said.
Mrs Davison has been in and out of hospital herself since having her appendix removed last year. But she is reluctant to use some local health services.
Our people just dont trust the hospital, she said.
PHIDUs figures show the number of potential years of life lost due to premature death in the Bidwill area was 85 per cent higher than the national norm between 2014 and 2018.
Cherrybrooks local public health area, only about 20 kilometres east of Bidwills, has a different distinction; Sydneys equal highest lifespans. It was one of four neighbourhoods with a median age at death of 88 years along with Cromer-Narrabeen-Collaroy, Ryde-Hunters Hill and Gordon-Killara-Pymble.
All those areas have an above-average concentration of residential aged care places which can affect local area comparisons of median death age. But Professor Glover says other indicators of longevity tell a similar story of the stark regional differences in how long Sydneysiders live.
In Cherrybrooks local health area, for instance, the likelihood of death before the age of 75 was 42 per cent below the national average between 2014 and 2018. In Gordon-Killara-Pymble that likelihood was almost 60 per cent lower than the average.
But in the Bidwell area the likelihood of death before age 75 in that period was 82 per cent higher than the average.
It means a lot of people in that area are dying fairly young to get a rate that high, Professor Glover said.
Cherrybrook resident Lesley de Gorter.Credit:Wolter Peeters
Other parts of western Sydney also have unusually high rates of premature mortality. The analysis shows that in Ashcroft-Busby-Millar, near Liverpool, the potential years of life lost due to death before the age of 75 was 72 per cent higher than the national average between 2014 and 2018.
In Cherrybrook the potential years of life lost due to premature death was almost 50 per cent below the national norm in that period.
High school teacher, Lesley de Gorter, moved to Cherrybrook with her husband Henri and their family 20 years ago. The couples two adult children, who both attended university, have moved out of home.
Ms de Gorter, who plays soccer for the local club, says the perks of living in Cherrybrook include a strong sense of community, the proximity to the shops and public transport and the quiet, leafy surrounds although she would like to be closer to the beach.
We are so far away from the ocean, she said. That bugs me a little bit. But weve got a nice pool.
Ms de Gorter, 58, is planning on an active retirement. Shes studying to become a pilates instructor and hopes to turn her double garage into a pilates studio as a later-life side hustle.
Major variations in many other health indicators underpin the gulf in lifespans across Sydney.
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The PHIDUs analysis shows rates of cancer, diabetes and obesity are all much higher in Bidwill than Cherrybrook. More than 40 per cent of those in the Cherrybrook area took a free government bowel cancer screening test (offered to those aged over 50) in 2016 and 2017 compared with only 25 per cent in Bidwills area. But the rate of positive tests among those that did participate in Bidwill (12.6 per cent) was almost double that in Cherrybrooks (6.9 per cent).
In Bidwills public health area nearly one in 10 residents aged between 16 and 64 was receiving the disability support pension in mid-2017, the PHIDU data shows. In Cherrybrooks the share was about one in 60.
Professor Alex Broom, director of the Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies at Sydney University, said a complex blend of factors had created a postcode lottery when it comes to health outcomes. He says some government policies, including subsidies for private health insurance, were stoking the variations in health outcomes between wealthy and disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
We are seeing increasing differences and thats costly to the whole of society, Professor Broom said.
Striking economic differences reinforce Sydneys divergent health statistics.
At the last census Bidwills median household income was $41,500 a year, less than a third of what the typical household in Cherrybrook had at its disposal ($127,000).
Bidwill has a much higher share of residents living in public housing than the state average and a relatively low rate of home ownership. The district also has a high proportion of Indigenous residents.
Economists warn the coronavirus pandemic could worsen the existing inequalities of income and wealth which contribute to the health disparities.
Matt Wade is a senior economics writer at The Sydney Morning Herald.
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A shame on our city: The yawning gap in lifespans across Sydney - Sydney Morning Herald
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