3303.0 - Causes of Death, Australia, 2012 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 25/03/2014   
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EXTERNAL CAUSES (V01-Y98)

External causes of death relate to cases where the underlying cause of death is determined to be one of a group of causes external to the body (for example suicide, transport accidents, falls, poisoning etc). See Explanatory Note 40 for further information.

In 2012, external causes accounted for 9,275 deaths, or 6.3% of all registered deaths. The standardised death rate was 37.9 per 100,000 population in 2012, a decrease from 38.9 per 100,000 population in 2003. Males were more likely to die from external causes than females in 2012. The standardised death rate for males was 52.2 per 100,000 compared with 24.2 females per 100,000.

In 2012, the median age at death from these causes was 56.1 years. The median age at death for external causes was considerably less than the median age of 81.7 years for all registered deaths in 2012. The median age at death for males who died of external causes was 50.3 years, and the median age at death for females was 75.3 years.

Consistent with previous years, close to two-thirds (63.6%) of the total number of people who died from external causes were male (5,897, compared to 3,378 females). The difference between the number of deaths of males and females was most apparent among people aged 20-44, with 2,156 male deaths compared to 675 female deaths in this age group and a sex ratio of 319 male deaths per 100 female deaths.