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DOCTOR CERTIFIED DEATHS

Of all deaths registered in 2009, 122,106 (86.7%) were certified by a doctor. The remainder were reportable deaths, certified by a coroner (13.3%).

Males accounted for 60,006 (49.1%) of all doctor certified deaths registered in 2009, with females accounting for the remaining 62,100 (50.9%). The median age at death for doctor certified deaths registered in 2009 was 82.2 years, whereas the median age at death for coroner certified deaths registered in 2009 was substantially lower at 60.4 years (see Table 3 in the ' Underlying Causes of Death' section).


State and Territory Doctor Certified Deaths

The proportion of deaths certified by a doctor varies between jurisdictions. In 2009, Northern Territory had the lowest proportion of deaths certified by a doctor at 67.4%. The Australian Capital Territory had the next lowest proportion of deaths certified by a doctor at 82.6%. Queensland had the highest proportion of deaths certified by a doctor with 88.7%. The proportions for all jurisdictions in 2009 were comparable with the previous year.

	2008					2009
	Doctor		Coroner		Total	Doctor		Coroner		Total
	no.	%	no.	%	no.	no.	%	no.	%	no.
NSW	43369	88.9	5413	11.1	48782	41596	88.6	5378	11.4	46974
Vic.	30061	84.7	5436	15.3	35497	30090	84.4	5550	15.6	35640
Qld	24213	88.6	3122	11.4	27335	23333	88.7	2983	11.3	26316
SA	10804	85.6	1812	14.4	12616	10601	85.0	1867	15.0	12468
WA	10939	85.8	1813	14.2	12752	10774	85.7	1792	14.3	12566
Tas.	3771	89.4	448	10.6	4219	3704	88.4	484	11.6	4188
NT	709	68.1	332	31.9	1041	642	67.4	311	32.6	953
ACT	1407	82.9	290	17.1	1697	1361	82.6	287	17.4	1648
Aust.	125278	87.0	18668	13.0	143946	122106	86.7	18654	13.3	140760