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The Australian population enjoys good health by world standards, but Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience higher death rates than non-Indigenous Australians across all age groups. In 1999-2003, for Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, where approximately 60% of the Indigenous population reside, the overall rates of mortality for Indigenous males and females were almost three times those for non-Indigenous males and females. Indigenous Australians also had higher rates of mortality from all major causes of death. While the difference between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations is very large, the exact magnitude cannot be established at this time, because of the incomplete recording of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status on death records. This limitation restricts precise analysis of the data and presents difficulties for the monitoring of mortality trends over time. However, it is still possible to provide some measures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mortality, and to make some comparisons with the mortality of non-Indigenous Australians.

This chapter examines the mortality of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. In the main, the analyses are based on data for the period 1999-2003. Mortality data for Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory have been used. These jurisdictions are considered to have the most complete coverage of Indigenous deaths for that period.

The less than complete coverage of Indigenous deaths in these four jurisdictions means the aggregate analyses presented in this chapter, which compare Indigenous and non-Indigenous outcomes, may underestimate the actual mortality experience of Indigenous people in Australia.