A University of Queensland study mapping health outcomes across Queensland’s rail network has found that communities just a few train stops apart can face dramatic differences in life expectancy, with the Redcliffe Peninsula line through Zillmere and Geebung among the Brisbane corridors where the gap is most visible.
The research, published in the Health Promotion Journal of Australia, overlaid median age of death statistics onto Queensland’s rail network to expose spatial inequalities in health that residents living side by side may never think to connect. The study measures median age of death, the age at which people in a given area have actually died, which is distinct from projected life expectancy but serves as a powerful indicator of deeply embedded health disadvantage across communities. For Aspley, Zillmere and Geebung residents, the data puts a number on something urban health researchers have long suspected: postcode shapes life expectancy, and the gaps can be startling even across neighbouring suburbs.
How the Research Was Conducted
Associate Professor Jonathan Olsen from UQ’s Institute for Social Science Research led the study, using train stations as geographic markers to map health data across the state. That approach gave the research a practical, visible reference point that residents and planners could readily understand and act on.
The results were difficult to ignore. Across Queensland as a whole, the median age of death for women spans between 68 and 88 years, while for men the range runs from 60 to 83. On the Redcliffe Peninsula line, men living near Zillmere station carried a median age of death of 72, a full 10 years below the figure for men near Geebung station just a few kilometres along the same line. The research also mapped a 26-year gap in median age of death between males living only 85 kilometres apart elsewhere in the state.
Associate Professor Mark Robinson, Professor Lisa McDaid and Professor Jonathan Corcoran from UQ co-authored the study.
The Life Expectancy Pattern Repeats Across Brisbane
The Zillmere and Geebung comparison sits within a broader pattern the research identified across multiple Brisbane corridors, with women’s figures proving just as stark as those for men.
On the Cleveland line, women near Murarrie station carried a median age of death 15 years lower than women near Cannon Hill, despite the stations sitting just 1.6 kilometres apart. Census data showed the Murarrie area carried higher rates of divorce, unpaid care and female single-parent households, all factors that compound health disadvantage particularly for women.
South of the CBD, men in the Inala-Richlands area carried a median age of death of 70 years, 11 years below the figure for men in Darra-Sumner. For women in those same areas, the gap reached 12 years. Inala has a higher Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population than Darra, and Indigenous Australians face significant and well-documented health disparities compared to non-Indigenous Australians. Residents in Inala also earn less on average and live in a higher proportion of single-parent households.
Why the Gaps Exist
Olsen said population health is shaped by a broad range of social, environmental, economic, cultural and commercial factors. Income, housing security, access to education and employment all influence outcomes, as do the types of services available locally, access to parks and green spaces, and the built environment for active travel. Those forces interact differently across neighbouring suburbs, producing health profiles that can diverge sharply within very short distances.
That combination explains why two stations 1.6 kilometres apart on the same rail line can tell such different stories about the life expectancy of their residents.
What the Research Is Designed to Do
Olsen was direct about the purpose of publishing findings that place specific areas at the harder end of outcomes. The goal is not to stigmatise particular suburbs, but to give planners, services and communities a detailed evidence base for targeted action. Spatially referenced data can guide place-based interventions including park upgrades, active travel infrastructure and community health initiatives, and those interventions are most effective when co-designed with the communities they serve.
Researchers in Glasgow, London and New York have already used transport maps as geographic frameworks for similar studies, giving the Queensland team a track record to draw on. The methodology also allows policymakers to monitor investment impacts over time and hold decision-makers accountable for whether funding directed to higher-need areas actually shifts outcomes.
That monitoring capacity matters because Queensland presents particular challenges. The state covers more than 1.7 million square kilometres with an uneven population distribution, and the same forces that produce a 10-year gap along the Redcliffe Peninsula line apply at much larger scales across regional and remote communities throughout the state.
How Residents and Planners Can Engage With the Findings
The full research paper is available here. UQ’s Institute for Social Science Research can be contacted through issr.uq.edu.au. Maps and media resources from the study are available through the UQ newsroom at news.uq.edu.au.
Published 2-March-2026.
