3302.0 - Deaths, Australia, 2004  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 08/12/2005   
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Age-specific death rate


Age-specific death rates are the number of deaths (occurred or registered) during the calendar year at a specified age per 1,000 of the estimated resident population of the same age 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.


Country of birth


The classification of countries is the Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC). For more detailed information refer to the Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC) (cat. no. 1269.0).


Crude death rate


The crude death rate is the number of deaths registered during the calendar year per 1,000 estimated resident population at 30 June. For years prior to 1992, the crude death rate was based on the mean estimated resident population for the calendar year.


Death


Death is the permanent disappearance of all evidence of life after birth has taken place. The definition excludes deaths prior to live birth. For the purposes of the Deaths and Causes of Death collections conducted by the ABS, a death refers to any death which occurs in, or en route to Australia and is registered with a state or territory Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.


Estimated resident population


The concept of estimated resident population (ERP) links people to a place of usual residence within Australia. Usual residence is that place where each person has lived or intends to live for six months or more in a reference year.


The ERP is an estimate of the Australian population obtained by adding to the estimated population at the beginning of each period the components of natural increase (on a usual residence basis) and net overseas migration. For the states and territories, account is also taken of the estimated interstate movements involving a change of usual residence.


Estimates of the resident population are based on census counts by place of usual residence, to which are added the estimated net census undercount and Australian residents estimated to have been temporarily overseas at the time of the census. Overseas visitors in Australia are excluded from this calculation. After each census, estimates for the preceding intercensal period are revised by incorporating an additional adjustment (intercensal discrepancy) to ensure that the total intercensal increase agrees with the difference between the ERPs at the two respective census dates.


External territories


Australian external territories include Australian Antarctic Territory, Coral Sea Islands Territory, Norfolk Island, Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands, and Territory of Heard and McDonald Islands.


Implied coverage


The ratio of observed to expected deaths.


Indigenous


Persons who identify themselves as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin.


Indigenous death


The death of a person who is identified as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin on the death registration form.


Indirect standardised death rate (ISDR)


See Standardised death rate (SDR).


Infant death


An infant death is the death of a live-born child who dies before reaching his/her first birthday.


Infant mortality rate


The number of deaths of children under one year of age in one calendar year per 1,000 live births in the same calendar year.


Intercensal discrepancy


Intercensal discrepancy is the difference between two estimates at 30 June of a census year population, the first based on the latest census and the second arrived at by updating the 30 June estimate of the previous census year with intercensal components of population change which take account of information available from the latest census. It is caused by errors in the start and/or finish population estimates and/or in estimates of births, deaths or migration in the intervening period which cannot be attributed to a particular source.


Life expectancy


Life expectancy refers to the average number of additional years a person of a given age and sex might expect to live if the age-specific death rates of the given period continued throughout his/her lifetime.


Life table death rate


The life table death rate represents the annual number of deaths (per 1,000 population) that would occur based on the death rates and population structure of the life table. It is calculated as 1,000/expectation of life at birth.


Live births


A live birth is the birth of a child, who, after delivery, breathes or shows any other evidence of life such as a heartbeat.


Marital status


Two separate concepts are measured by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. These are registered marital status and social marital status. They have different personal characteristics and are independent variables with separate classifications. Marital status relates to registered marital status which refers to formally registered marriages or divorces for which the partners hold a certificate. Four categories of marital status are identified: never married, married, widowed and divorced.


Median value


For any distribution the median value (age, duration, interval) is that value which divides the relevant population into two equal parts, half falling below the value, and half exceeding it. Where the value for a particular record has not been stated, that record is excluded from the calculation.


Natural increase


Excess of births over deaths.


Neonatal death


For neonatal deaths a birthweight and period of gestation criterion apply:

  • A neonatal death is the death within 28 days of birth of a child weighing at least 500 grams at delivery (or of at least 22 weeks gestation, if birthweight was unavailable) who after delivery, breathes or shows any evidence of life such as a heartbeat. Applies to data collected prior to 1997.
  • A neonatal death is the death within 28 days of birth of a child weighing at least 400 grams at delivery (or of at least 20 weeks gestation, if birthweight was unavailable) who after delivery, breathes or shows any evidence of life such as a heartbeat. Applies to data collected from 1997 onwards.

Other territories


Following the 1992 amendments to the Acts Interpretation Act to include the Indian Ocean Territories of Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands as part of geographic Australia, another category of the state and territory level has been created, known as Other Territories. Other Territories include Jervis Bay Territory, previously included with the Australian Capital Territory, as well as Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.


Sex ratio


The sex ratio relates to the number of males per 100 females. The sex ratio is defined for total population, at birth, at death and among age groups by appropriately selecting the numerator and denominator of the ratio.


Standardised death rate (SDR)


Standardised death rates enable the comparison of death rates between populations with different age structures by relating them to a standard population. The ABS standard populations relate to the years ending in 1 (e.g. 2001). The current standard population is all persons in the 2001 Australian population. Standardised death rates are expressed per 1,000 or 100,000 persons. There are two methods of calculating standardised death rates:

  • The direct method - this is used when the populations under study are large and the age-specific death rates are reliable. It is the overall death rate that would have prevailed in the standard population if it had experienced at each age the death rates of the population under study.
  • The indirect method - this is used when the populations under study are small and the age-specific death rates are unreliable or not known. It is an adjustment to the crude death rate of the standard population to account for the variation between the actual number of deaths in the population under study and the number of deaths which would have occurred if the population under study had experienced the age-specific death rates of the standard population.

Wherever used, the definition adopted is indicated.


Standardised mortality ratio


The ratio of the actual number of deaths in the population under study and the number of deaths which would have occurred if the population under study had experienced the age-specific death rates of the standard population (see also Standardised death rate, The indirect method).


State or territory of registration


State or territory of registration refers to the state or territory in which the event was registered.


State or territory and Statistical Local Area of usual residence


State or territory and Statistical Local Area (SLA) of usual residence refers to the state or territory and SLA of usual residence of:

  • the population (estimated resident population)
  • the mother (birth collection);
  • the deceased (death collection).

In the case of overseas movements, state or territory of usual residence refers to the state or territory regarded by the traveller as the one in which he/she lives or has lived. State or territory of intended residence is derived from the intended address given by settlers, and by Australian residents returning after a journey abroad. Particularly in the case of the former, this information does not necessarily relate to the state or territory in which the traveller will eventually establish a permanent residence.


Underlying cause of death


The disease or injury which initiated the train of morbid events leading directly to death. Accidental and violent deaths are classified according to the external cause; that is, to the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury rather than to the nature of the injury.


Year of occurrence


Data presented on year of occurrence basis relate to the date the death occurred.


Year of registration


Data presented on year of registration basis relate to the date the death was registered.