1338.1.55.001 - Statistical Trends, NSW, 2007  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 19/09/2007  First Issue
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HEALTH


The health sector is well served by statistics and there are many different approaches to judging performance. Looking at the broadest level – life expectancy and death rates – NSW health continued to improve between 2000 and 2005. During the same period, the life expectancy at birth of men improved by 2.1 years to reach 78.5 years, and the death rate for all persons fell from 6.9 to 5.9 per 1000 persons.

Life Expectancy and Mortality Rates

2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005

Life expectancy male(a) years
76.4
76.9
77.3
77.7
78.0
78.5
Life expectancy female(a) years
81.9
82.4
82.6
82.9
83.3
83.3
Standardised death rate per 1,000 population(b) rate
6.9
6.6
6.6
6.4
6.3
5.9

nya not yet available
(a) Based on three years of population and deaths data.
(b) Age standardised to the 2001 Australian population.
Source: Deaths, Australia (ABS cat. no. 3302.0).


Deaths per 100,000 persons from heart disease and cerebrovascular disease have declined since 2000, however, deaths from cancer have increased from 163 to 177 per 100,000 persons in 2005.

Deaths per 100,000, By cancer, heart and cerebrovascular disease(a)
Graph: Deaths per 100,000, Cancer, Heart and Cerebrovascular disease(a)



Deaths of Young People

One goal of health systems is to reduce preventable deaths – those related to risk behaviours or where earlier medical interventions may have prevented death. In 2005, nearly half of all deaths of young men and a third of young women aged 15–34 years in NSW, were due to suicide, transport accidents or accidental drug overdoses (418 persons).

In 2005, as many young people died from suicide (173 persons) as from transport accidents (167 persons), and four times as many young men (330) died from suicide, transport or drug causes, as young women (88).

Selected Causes of Death, By persons aged 15–34 years2005
Graph: Selected Causes of death, By persons aged 15–34 years—2005



In 2005, the number of deaths from transport accidents were highest between the ages 20 and 29 years.

Deaths from suicide and accidental drug overdose were highest between the ages 30 and 49 years. At these ages more people die from either suicide or accidental drug overdose than from a transport fatality.

Selected Causes of Death, By persons aged 15–54 years2005
Graph: Selected Causes of Death, Persons aged 15-54 years—2005