Deaths, Australia

Latest release

Statistics about deaths and mortality rates for Australia, states and territories, and sub-state regions

Reference period
2022

Key statistics

  • There were 190,939 registered deaths in 2022, an increase of 19,470 since 2021.
  • The standardised death rate increased to 5.5 deaths, from 5.1 in 2021.
  • Infant deaths decreased by 51 deaths to 958.
Summary statistics
201220212022
All deaths147,098171,469190,939
Infant deaths1,0311,009958
Standardised death rate5.55.15.5
Crude death rate6.56.77.3
Infant mortality rate3.33.33.2

The standardised death rate (SDR) uses the age distribution of total persons in the Australian population at 30 June 2001 as the standard population. The SDR is expressed as deaths per 1,000 standard population. 

The crude death rate is the number of deaths registered during the calendar year per 1,000 estimated resident population at 30 June. 

The infant mortality rate is the number of deaths of children under one year of age in a specified period per 1,000 live births in the same period.

This publication presents statistics about deaths and mortality rates in the reference year 2022. Information about Causes of death in 2022 are available in Causes of Death, Australia.

National

Deaths registered

  • There were 190,939 deaths registered in 2022, an increase of 19,470 from 2021 (171,469).
  • There were more male deaths (99,924) than female deaths (91,015), resulting in a sex ratio of 109.8 male deaths for every 100 female deaths.

Age and sex distribution

  • In every age group spanning 0-84 years, there were more male deaths than there were female deaths.
  • At age 85-89 years and onwards, more female deaths were recorded than male deaths.
  1. Excludes deaths for which age was not stated.

Median age at death

The median age at death:

  • was 79.7 years for males and 85.0 years for females
  • for males increased by 0.3 since 2021
  • for females increased by 0.2 since 2021
  • has increased by 1.1 years for males and 0.4 years for females over the past ten years.

Standardised death rate

The standardised death rate

  • increased to 5.5 deaths per 1,000 standard population, from 5.1 in 2021
  • was the same (5.5) as in 2012, with males showing a decrease of 0.2 over the ten-year period and females remaining the same (4.6).

Crude death rate

The crude death rate

  • was 7.3 deaths per 1,000 population
  • increased from 6.7 deaths in 2021 and was the same as in 1988 (7.3).

Age-specific death rate

The age-specific death rate (ASDR) is the number of deaths (registered) during the calendar year, at a specified age, per 1,000 of the estimated resident population (ERP) at the mid-point of the year (30 June). Pro rata adjustment is made in respect of deaths for which the age of the deceased is not given.

The age-specific death rates

  • were higher for males than females for most age groups (except 5-9 and 10-14 years)
  • were under one death per 1,000 population for age groups below 35-39 years (except age 0), with the lowest rates in age groups 5-9 and 10-14 years for both males (0.1) and females (0.1)
  • more than doubled between the age groups 45-49 years (1.8) and 55-59 years (4.1), then progressively increased for each subsequent age group. This was consistent for both males and females
  • were highest in age group 100+ years for both males (489.3) and females (467.1).

States and territories

Deaths registered

  • All states and territories recorded an increase in death registrations in 2022. COVID-19-related deaths were the largest contributor to this increase.
  • Over three-quarters (78.1%) of deaths registered were to usual residents of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland combined.
Deaths registered by state and territory of usual residence
State or territory2012 (no.)2021 (no.)2022 (no.)Change from 2021 to 2022 (no.)
New South Wales49,31456,52562,9806,455
Victoria35,76042,48647,9785,492
Queensland28,30033,85838,1604,302
South Australia13,17814,49415,455961
Western Australia13,33915,89117,2991,408
Tasmania4,4594,7695,142373
Northern Territory1,0381,2111,338127
Australian Capital Territory1,7062,2072,563356
Australia(a)147,098171,469190,93919,470
  1. Includes Other Territories. 

Deaths by state and territory of usual residence – 2022

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This interactive map examines the number of deaths for the 2022 reference year, by State and territory of Usual residence of Australia, based on the boundaries released in the ASGS.

Median age at death

Median age at death was: 

  • highest in Victoria for males (80.3 years) and South Australia for females (85.6 years)
  • lowest in the Northern Territory (67.2 years for males and 68.4 years for females).

Standardised death rate

The standardised death rate was:

  • highest in the Northern Territory (7.6 deaths per 1,000 standard population), followed by Tasmania (5.8)
  • lowest in Western Australia (5.0).

Over the past ten years, standardised death rates:

  • Increased in Victoria (5.4 deaths from 5.2 in 2012) and the Australian Capital Territory (5.2 deaths from 5.0 in 2012), and remained the same in New South Wales (5.5)
  • Decreased in Tasmania (5.8 deaths from 6.6 in 2012), Western Australia (5.0 deaths from 5.4 in 2012), South Australia (5.4 deaths from 5.7 in 2012) and Queensland (5.6 deaths from 5.8 in 2012).
  1. Includes Other Territories.

Infants

Births registered by Indigenous status of the birth - 2022

Births registered by Indigenous status of the birth(a)
State or territory of usual residenceSexAboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderNon-IndigenousNot stated(b)Total
NSW
Males4,52045,7053250,257
Females4,32043,2703747,627
Persons8,84088,9756997,884
Vic.
Males92236,79070438,416
Females98935,15762736,773
Persons1,91171,9471,33175,189
Qld
Males3,77028,2071431,991
Females3,68226,3962530,103
Persons7,45254,6033962,094
SA
Males6009,4732910,102
Females5628,756299,347
Persons1,16218,2295819,449
WA
Males1,37814,50718316,068
Females1,40113,81217915,392
Persons2,77928,31936231,460
Tas.(c)
Males3352,44112,778
Females3432,38412,728
Persons6784,82535,506
NT
Males6781,15511,836
Females6491,12521,778
Persons1,3272,28073,614
ACT
Males1152,69822,817
Females1202,51262,638
Persons2355,210105,455
Aust.(d)
Males12,321140,987973154,281
Females12,067133,427909146,403
Persons24,388274,4141,882300,684
  1. Limited births data have been included to allow for the calculation of infant mortality rates. Detailed births and fertility data will be released in Births, Australia.
  2. Where necessary, small values have been adjusted to protect confidentiality. As a result, sums of components may not add exactly to totals.
  3. Birth registrations in Tasmania in 2022 were affected by a change in the way births were assigned to the reference year. This change resulted in a lower number of births than recorded in previous years. For details see Births, Australia Methodology.
  4. Includes Other Territories.

Deaths registered

Infant deaths are defined as deaths of children aged less than one year.

  • There were 958 infant deaths registered (504 boys and 454 girls).
  • This was a 5.1% decrease compared with the number registered in 2021 (1,009).
  • Over the past ten years, the number of infant deaths decreased overall from 1,031 in 2012.

Infant mortality rate

Australia has one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world.

The infant mortality rate:

  • was 3.2 infant deaths per 1,000 live births
  • decreased from 2012 (3.3).

 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

Change to derivation of Indigenous status for deaths registered in NSW

In 2022, information from the cause of death process including the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) and coronial information was made available to the ABS by the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages as a secondary source for determining Indigenous status of the deceased. This brings the derivation in line with all other states and territories with the exception of Victoria. Use of this additional source has led to improved recording of Indigenous status. This change has introduced a break in time series in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander death statistics in NSW and Australia. Therefore caution should be used when making comparisons with previous years. For more information on this change and the impacts refer to Technical Note: The impact of using two sources for deriving the Indigenous status of deaths in NSW in 2022, in Causes of Death, Australia methodology.

Deaths registered

  • In 2022, there were 5,082 deaths registered where the person was identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, an increase of 1,001 deaths nationally from 2021.
  • All states and territories recorded increases.
  • New South Wales recorded the largest increase, 1,691 deaths compared with 1,206 in 2021, noting the change to derivation of Indigenous status.
  • Queensland recorded the next largest increase with 1,271 deaths, up from 1,101 in 2021.
Deaths by Indigenous status - 2022
State or territory of usual residenceAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (no.)Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (%)Non-Indigenous (no.)Non-Indigenous (%)Not stated (no.)Not stated (%)Total (no.)
NSW(a)1,6912.761,113971760.362,980
Vic.3370.747,08198.15601.247,978
Qld1,2713.336,81796.5720.238,160
SA2751.815,16398.1170.115,455
WA7334.216,46995.2970.617,299
Tas.1242.44,97996.8390.85,142
NT61746.171853.740.31,338
ACT291.12,52998.750.22,563
Aust.(b)5,0822.7184,88296.89750.5190,939
  1. The 2022 increase in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths is influenced by the use of information from the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) for the first time for deriving the indigenous status of deaths registered in New South Wales (refer to Causes of Death, Australia methodology for more detail).
  2. Includes Other Territories.

Age and sex distribution

Deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are more widely spread across younger age groups, whereas deaths of non-Indigenous people are concentrated in the older age groups. This reflects higher birth rates and lower life expectancy in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population compared with those in the non-Indigenous population.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people five state/territory data

Median ages, age-specific death rates, standardised death rates and infant mortality rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are presented for New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory only. These five jurisdictions have been included as they have sufficient levels of identification and sufficient numbers of deaths to support mortality analysis. The total therefore represents the total for these five jurisdictions only.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, summary statistics(a)
201220212022(b)
All deaths2,4693,6964,587
Infant deaths8190127
Standardised death rate(c)9.49.510.1
Crude death rate(c)3.94.75.1
Infant mortality rate(c)6.45.25.2
  1. Includes data for the five states and territories - New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. Data for Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory (based on state or territory of usual residence) are excluded due to the small numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths.
  2. The 2022 increase in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths is influenced by the use of information from the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) for the first time for deriving the indigenous status of deaths registered in New South Wales (refer to Causes of Death, Australia methodology for more detail).
  3. These rates are based on three-year averages. They are calculated for each calendar year and then averaged.

Median age at death

The median age at death for: 

  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was 62.3 years, up from 57.2 years 10 years ago
  • non-Indigenous people was 82.1 years, compared with 81.6 years 10 years ago.

Age-specific death rate

Age-specific death rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people:

  • were higher in all age groups than those for non-Indigenous people
  • decreased the most for 65-74 years (2,740.6 deaths per 100,000 population from 2,836.4 in 2012), 0 years (591.7 from 613.7) and 15-24 years (94.4 from 101.6), compared with 10 years ago.

The broader 25-54 years age group had the highest age-specific death rates compared with the non-Indigenous population.

Standardised death rate

The standardised death rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people:

  • was 10.1 deaths per 1,000 standard population, up from 9.4 in 2012
  • for males increased to 11.2 from 11.0 ten years ago
  • for females increased to 9.1 from 8.2 over the same period
  • was highest in the Northern Territory at 13.4 and lowest in New South Wales at 8.8.

Infant mortality rate

The infant mortality rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: 

  • was 5.2 deaths per 1,000 live births, compared with 3.1 deaths for non-Indigenous people
  • was highest in the Northern Territory in both the 2010-2012 (13.7) and 2020-2022 (15.1) periods
  • fluctuated over the 10-year period due to the small and variable number of registered infant deaths.

Deaths by year of registration and year of occurrence

While the interval between the occurrence and registration of deaths is often longer for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people than for the non-Indigenous population, there is normally little difference between the number of deaths registered and the number that occurred in a given year. The number of deaths not registered in the year that they occurred are balanced by the number of deaths that occurred in the previous years but were subsequently registered. Data for the latest year will be underestimated if reported on a year of occurrence basis. 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths by year of registration

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths, state or territory(a) of usual residence by year of registration
YearNSWVic.Qld(b)(c)SAWATas.NTACTAust.(d)
19994351305291163501139961,976
2000473108535144407845022,127
2001481935651253453242932,072
2002516645901073712046242,136
2003485825691373382343592,079
20044905457913140020449102,136
20055077151914240628454112,141
200653011158412444320452142,279
2007601955941384492446162,368
20085599756214148624467162,353
200959110663216041630431102,377
201062211794814743637447132,767
201172612862914145430437122,558
20126351006781514664553962,620
201375312376517745727489182,811
201479413968816951731562132,914
201582214184216751150537173,088
201685717588417056554443193,168
201785718689722250852504223,250
201896021196322356366509223,518
20191,1222541,01622357868496293,787
20201,1553411,09722662688507214,063
20211,2062561,101240604102545254,081
2022(e)1,6913371,271275733124617295,082
  1. Due to differing levels of recording Indigenous status by the state and territory registrars, and over time, care should be taken in interpreting change in numbers of deaths.
  2. Care should be taken when interpreting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths data for Queensland for 2010. See Technical Note: Queensland Retrospective Deaths Project, and Methodology.
  3. From 2015, deaths data provided by the Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages include information resulting in an improvement in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identification. See Methodology.
  4. Includes Other Territories.
  5. The 2022 increase in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths is influenced by the use of information from the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) for the first time for deriving the indigenous status of deaths registered in New South Wales (refer to Causes of Death, Australia methodology for more detail).

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths by year of occurrence

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths, state or territory(a) of usual residence by year of occurrence(b)
YearNSWVic.Qld(c)(d)SAWATas.NTACTAust.(e)
19994331055411173491243972,003
20004801156191403841042912,178
2001487815811223682943032,100
2002508646141083862247152,180
20034948359514432422419122,095
2004481556351343911943772,161
20055088154314041632496122,231
200653111759212446216454122,309
2007599945931434622546582,389
20085599755414447623491142,359
200959610962814840933440122,376
201064013363314942635429122,458
201171110565014844432486112,587
20126661136821584524350872,629
201375712075016746529509172,816
201479713572017749731547162,921
201579915084015853350504163,051
201686520685217854153463193,178
201790019292222653256517233,370
201896419995522255664546203,527
20191,0882761,01022557370481333,757
20201,1823121,11722762984518234,094
20211,2272701,080240585103550214,078
2022(f)1,5672841,159241651122422264,477
  1. Due to differing levels of recording Indigenous status by the state and territory registrars, and over time, care should be taken in interpreting change in numbers of deaths.
  2. Includes deaths registered up to and including 31 December 2022. The number of deaths presented on a year of occurrence basis is subject to change, as deaths that occurred prior to 31 December 2022 but have not yet been registered are registered in subsequent years. See Methodology for more information.
  3. Care should be taken when interpreting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths data for Queensland for 2010. See Technical Note: Queensland Retrospective Deaths Project, and Methodology.
  4. From 2015, deaths data provided by the Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages include information resulting in an improvement in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identification. See Methodology.
  5. Includes Other Territories.
  6. The 2022 increase in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths is influenced by the use of information from the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) for the first time for deriving the indigenous status of deaths registered in New South Wales (refer to Causes of Death, Australia methodology for more detail).

Data downloads

Notes

Deaths data cubes and Data Explorer datasets are by state or territory of usual residence.

All deaths Data Explorer datasets in this release are reported by year of registration except ‘Deaths, Year of occurrence, Age at death, Age-specific death rates, Sex, States, Territories and Australia’, 'Deaths and infant deaths, Year and month of occurrence, Sex, States, Territories and Australia' and 'Infant deaths, Year of occurrence, Age at death, Sex, Australia', which are reporting the month and/or year in which the death occurred. Lag in registration of deaths can cause data reported by occurrence to be incomplete. This is particularly noticeable in December as deaths in this month are more likely to be registered in the following year. Data is updated annually.

Data files

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 3302.0.

Post-release changes

31 October 2023: Additional data cube added - Table 1: Deaths, Country of Birth, Australia - 2022

28 September 2023: Additional data cubes added - Table 3: Deaths, Summary, Statistical Area Level 4, 2012 to 2022, Table 4: Deaths, Summary, Statistical Area Level 2, 2012 to 2022, Table 5: Deaths, Summary, Local Government Areas, 2012 to 2022, Table 6: Deaths, Summary, Remoteness Areas, 2012 to 2022 and Table 7: Deaths, Indigenous status, Summary, Remoteness Areas, Australia, 2012 to 2022.

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