Women's life expectancy has dropped for the first time in 20 years.

For the first time in almost two decades, the life expectancy of women in the United Kingdom has fallen. Experts say that poor lifestyle choices and inadequate care are to blame.

Similar life expectancy drops may be in store for Australian men and women, according to Michael Moore, CEO of the Public Health Association of Australia, as well as Vice President and President Elect of the World Federation of Public Health Associations.

“I think that what we’re seeing here is going to be repeated across the world,” says Mr. Moore. This shouldn’t come as a shock, either.

“Many public health associations have been warning, for a number of years, that our life expectancy is going to decline.”

Related: Young Australian women are contracting HIV overseas  

Mr. Moore said that the reason behind this potential fall in life expectancy for men and women “is, more than anything, around lifestyle, particularly obesity. We can’t expect to continue an increasing life expectancy without changing the way we eat, the way we drink, and smoke.”

“We are simply getting more obese,” Mr. Moore stated. “It’s a combination of obesity, and lack of exercise. So what we really need to do, if we want to continue to get better life expectancy, is to address these issues.” (Post continues after gallery.)

In the recent report published by Public Health England (PHE) , it was found that, in 2012, the life expectancy of women in the UK aged 65, 75, 85 and 95 had fallen.

For example, in 2011, a woman aged 65 could expect to live for another 21 years. In 2012, however, a woman of the same age could expect to live for only 20 years and 47 weeks. Similar figures – of life expectancy dropping by a few weeks, or a couple of months – was reflected in the ascending age groups.

This was the first time since 1995 that a drop in women’s life expectancy has been recorded, in the UK. Prior to these recent findings, life expectancies for women were on the rise.

Related: Young women are twice as likely to die of a heart attack than young men.

The PHE has been hesitant to draw too many conclusions on this data, suggesting merely that the fall in life expectancy was due to cold weather, the flu and even statistical blips.

However, experts have other theories. Professor John Ashton, president of the UK Faculty of Public Health, suggested that the fall in older women’s life expectancy was due to poor lifestyle choices.

He told The Telegraph, “One of the issues we have seen is women living lifestyles becoming more like those of men over recent decades, with more smoking and drinking,” he said. He also cited the “failure” of governments to provide adequate care for the elderly.

Related: Should smokers pay more for health insurance?  

Caroline Abrahams, the charity director of Age UK, agrees with this sentiment, also telling The Telegraph that “The most obvious likely culprit is the rapid decline of state-funded social care in recent years, which is leaving hundreds of thousands of older people to struggle on alone at home without any help.”

Here's hoping that Australian men and women will pay attention to these figures, and change their lifestyles, in order to save their own lives.

If you need inspiration just to put on your gym shoes, look no further than this gallery...