KEY POINTS:
Maori live longer than most indigenous peoples, but they still die on average seven years earlier than other New Zealanders.
Maori live to an average of 69 years, 13 years longer than Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men, who fare the worst of all indigenous groups, with a life expectancy of just 56 - 20 years shorter than other Australians.
Australia's 460,000 Aborigines comprise around 2 per cent of its 20 million population. Maori make up around 14 per cent of New Zealand's population.
The data has been released in the report The Gap Must Be Closed: Solutions to the Indigenous Health Crisis facing Australia. The report by Oxfam and the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation seeks increased health funding for Aborigines.
First Nations people in Canada live an average of 68.9 years, around seven years less than non-native people in Canada and the United States.
Infant mortality for Aborigines is three times that of other Australians, and is twice that of indigenous children in the US and New Zealand. Thirteen per cent of Aboriginal babies are born with low birth weight - more than double the rates of indigenous babies in Canada and the US.
The paper calls for culturally appropriate primary health care for indigenous people, more doctors caring for Aborigines, a better-developed indigenous health workforce, more responsive mainstream care and a preventive health campaign.
