2006 AND 2011 COMPARISON
For total death registrations in the 2006 and 2011 projects, the corresponding raw and adjusted linkage rates were remarkably similar. Note that a considerably higher number of death registrations were linked in 2011 than in 2006 (142,697 compared with 98,898).
In 2011, raw linkage rates were higher for non-Indigenous than Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths, but this difference was reduced after adjustment.
The raw linkage rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths was higher in 2011 than 2006 (80% compared with 74%). The adjusted rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths in 2011 was almost ten percentage points higher than the raw linkage rate (90% compared with 80%). Adjusted linkage rates were not calculated by Indigenous status in 2006.
Looking at this another way, although in total 461 death registrations for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people remained unlinked at the end of the linkage process, the difference between expected and actual links was much lower at 215. Therefore, of unlinked Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths, just over half were likely to have remained unlinked because the Census record was present but not found and just under half because there was no Census record to link to.
Reflecting the pattern of Census undercount, the adjustment had a much larger effect on linkage rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons (nine percentage points) than non-Indigenous deaths (three percentage points).
Table 3.4 - RAW AND ADJUSTED LINKAGE RATES, 2006 and 2011, By Indigenous status
| | ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER | | NON-INDIGENOUS | | TOTAL(a) |
| | | | | | |
| | 2006 | 2011 | | 2006 | 2011 | | 2006 | 2011 |
|
Total Death Registrations | 1 800 | 2 345 | | 103 987 | 150 238 | | 106 945 | 153 455 |
| Expected links(b) | . . | 2 099 | | . . | 145 248 | | 103 198 | 150 266 |
| Linked death registrations | 1 327 | 1 884 | | 96 531 | 140 037 | | (c)97 696 | 142 697 |
| Unlinked death registrations | 473 | 461 | | 7 456 | 10 201 | | 8 047 | 10 758 |
Raw linkage rate (%) | 73.7 | 80.3 | | 92.8 | 93.2 | | 92.5 | 93.0 |
Adjusted linkage rate(d) (%) | . . | 89.7 | | . . | 96.4 | | 94.7 | 95.0 |
|
. . Not applicable
(a) Includes Death registrations where the person’s Indigenous status was not stated.
(b) Expected links for 2006 were calculated at different population levels relative to 2011. Care should be taken when making direct comparison between 2006 and 2011 adjusted rates.
(c) Excludes 1,202 linked death registrations in 2006 that were estimated to be false links.
(d) Referred to as a ‘match-link rate’ in 2006. See Linking Census Records to Death Registrations (cat. no. 1351.0.55.030) for more information.