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DOCTOR CERTIFIED DEATHS

Of all deaths registered in 2011, 129,993 (88.5%) were certified by a doctor. The remainder were reportable deaths, certified by a coroner (11.5%).

Males accounted for 64,022, or 49.3% of all doctor certified deaths registered in 2011, with females accounting for the remaining 65,971 (50.7%). In contrast, males accounted for a higher proportion of coroner certified deaths (11,308 or 66.8%) compared to females (5,631 or 33.2%). The median age at death for doctor certified deaths registered in 2011 was 82.8 years, whereas the median age at death for coroner certified deaths registered in 2011 was substantially lower at 59.4 years (see Table 4).

State and Territory Doctor Certified Deaths

The proportion of deaths certified by a doctor varies between jurisdictions, as can be seen in Table 1. In 2011, Northern Territory had the lowest proportion of deaths certified by a doctor at 72.2%. South Australia had the next lowest proportion of deaths certified by a doctor at 83.9%. New South Wales had the highest proportion of deaths certified by a doctor with 90.7%. The proportions for all jurisdictions in 2011 were comparable with the proportions in 2010.

	Doctor		Coroner		Total
	no.	%	no.(b)	%	no.
NSW(c)	45 950	90.7	4 711	9.3	50 661
Vic.	32 085	87.8	4 467	12.2	36 552
Qld	24 558	89.6	2 856	10.4	27 414
SA	10 624	83.9	2 041	16.1	12 665
WA	10 829	85.1	1 895	14.9	12 724
Tas.	3 806	89.7	439	10.3	4 245
NT	696	72.2	268	27.8	964
ACT	1 438	84.6	262	15.4	1 700
Aust.(d)	129 993	88.5	16 939	11.5	146 932