The average Australian has ceased being productive compared to a decade ago, in spite of longer lifespan, better education and higher income.

According to figures released Thursday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, productivity has fallen by 2.1 percent in the past 10 years. Productivity is defined as the efficiency of how an economy transforms inputs into outputs. It is best measured by multifactor productivity in the market sector based on quality-adjusted hours worked.

This, as average life expectancy improved by two to three years, higher education qualifications are held by more of the population and average incomes grew by an extra $8,200.

Other notable progressions include unemployment, which fell to 5.2 per cent in 2010 from 6.3 per cent in 2000. Average household incomes for both low- and middle-income Australians likewise jumped by more than one-third (38 per cent). Moreover, a person's real net worth increased to $308,500 in 2010 from $285,700 in 2000.

But progress is not measured in terms of economic improvements alone, as the report found out in trying to answer the question "Is life in Australia getting better?"

ABS reported the number of Australian animal species threatened with extinction jumped to 432 in 2010 from 332 in 2000. Greenhouse gas emissions were 13 per cent higher in 2009 than they were in 1999.