The "useful life" (UL) of an asset is the estimated length of time during which the asset is able to deliver a given level of service.
Alternate Definitions
The International Infrastructure Management Manual states that "useful life" may be expressed as either:
- The period over which a depreciable asset is expected to be used, or
- The number of production or similar units (i.e. intervals, cycles) that is expected to be obtained from the asset.
General Notes
The useful life of an asset is not necessarily equivalent to its physical life or economic life, a number of other factors may result in an assets useful life being reduced, including:
- Obsolescence
- Changes in community expectations
- Increased demands on capacity
- New legal requirments
Useful Lives
The useful life of most assets will depend on a range of environmental factors. The lives stated below are just "conversation starters" based on the average typical lives adopted for depreciation purposes by those Councils that contribute data to this site. To see the data behind the figure or to add your Councils data click on a link below.
