ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER DEATHS


DEATHS OF ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER AUSTRALIANS

There were 3,088 deaths registered in Australia in 2015 where the deceased person was recorded as being an Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, or both (see table 1.4). For detailed data, see ABS.Stat Datasets - Deaths, Year of registration, Indigenous status, Summary data, Sex, States, Territories and Australia and ABS.Stat Datasets - Deaths, Year of registration, Indigenous status, Age at death, Sex, Five State/Territory, from the Downloads tab.

1.4 DEATHS, Indigenous status - 2015
State or territory of usual residence	Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander			Non-Indigenous		Not stated		Total
		no.	%	no.	%	no.	%	no.
NSW		822	1.5	52 640	98.2	138	0.3	53 600
Vic.		141	0.4	39 678	99.4	85	0.2	39 904
Qld(a)		842	2.8	28 904	97.1	36	0.1	29 782
SA		167	1.2	13 471	98.7	9	0.1	13 647
WA		511	3.5	13 815	95.6	122	0.8	14 448
Tas.		50	1.1	4 583	98.9	-	-	4 633
NT		537	45.9	632	54.0	4	0.3	1 171
ACT		17	0.9	1 834	98.7	8	0.4	1 859
Aust.(b)		3 088	1.9	155 563	97.8	401	0.3	159 052
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells) (a) From 2015, deaths data provided by the Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages include information resulting in an increase in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identification. See Explanatory Note 28.
(b) Includes Other Territories.

Deaths by Year of registration and Year of occurrence

The following table presents deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders by year of registration and year of occurrence separately for those deaths registered up to and including 31 December 2015. While the interval between the occurrence and registration of deaths is often longer among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians than among the non-Indigenous population, there is normally little difference between the number of deaths registered in a given year and the number of deaths that occurred in the same year for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. This is because for each year, the number of deaths that are not registered in the year that they occurred are balanced by deaths that occurred in the previous years but were subsequently registered. The table below illustrates that if data are routinely reported on a year of occurrence basis, deaths data for the latest year will be underestimated.

1.5 ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER DEATHS(a), States and territories(b)(c) - 1999 to 2015
		NSW	Vic.	Qld(d)(e)	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.(f)
YEAR OF REGISTRATION
1999		435	130	529	116	350	11	399	6	1 976
2000		473	108	535	144	407	8	450	2	2 127
2001		481	93	565	125	345	32	429	3	2 072
2002		516	64	590	107	371	20	462	4	2 136
2003		485	82	569	137	338	23	435	9	2 079
2004		490	54	579	131	400	20	449	10	2 136
2005		507	71	519	142	406	28	454	11	2 141
2006		530	111	584	124	443	20	452	14	2 279
2007		601	95	594	138	449	24	461	6	2 368
2008		559	97	562	141	486	24	467	16	2 353
2009		591	106	632	160	416	30	431	10	2 377
2010		622	117	948	147	436	37	447	13	2 767
2011		726	128	629	141	454	30	437	12	2 558
2012		635	100	678	151	466	45	539	6	2 620
2013		753	123	765	177	457	27	489	18	2 811
2014		794	139	688	169	517	31	562	13	2 914
2015		822	141	842	167	511	50	537	17	3 088
YEAR OF OCCURRENCE(g)
1999		433	108	540	117	347	12	438	7	1 999
2000		480	115	619	140	384	9	429	1	2 178
2001		487	81	581	122	368	29	430	4	2 100
2002		508	64	614	108	384	22	471	5	2 178
2003		494	83	595	144	324	22	418	12	2 094
2004		481	55	633	134	391	19	437	7	2 159
2005		507	81	542	140	416	32	494	12	2 227
2006		529	117	591	123	461	16	454	12	2 304
2007		599	94	588	140	462	25	464	8	2 380
2008		559	97	554	144	474	23	491	14	2 357
2009		596	109	628	147	409	33	440	12	2 375
2010		640	132	631	149	424	35	428	12	2 452
2011		711	104	649	148	444	32	483	11	2 582
2012		665	113	677	158	449	43	505	7	2 617
2013		755	116	743	166	460	29	503	17	2 791
2014		795	132	707	176	496	30	540	16	2 893
2015		754	125	745	145	457	48	409	14	2 698
(a) The death of a person who is recorded as being an Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, or both on the Death Registration Form and/or the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death. For further information see paragraph 28 of the Explanatory Notes.
(b) State or territory of usual residence.
(c) Due to differing levels of recording Indigenous status by the states and territories and over time, care should be taken in interpreting change in numbers of deaths. As a result, data for Australia should not be analysed as a time series.
(d) 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 paragraph 36 of the Explanatory Notes of Deaths, Australia, 2010 (cat. no. 3302.0).
(e) 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 Explanatory Note 28.
(f) Includes Other Territories.
(g) Includes deaths registered up to and including 31 December 2015. The number of deaths presented on a year of occurrence basis is subject to change, as deaths that occurred prior to 31 December 2015 but have not yet been registered are registered in subsequent years. See paragraphs 25 and 26 of the Explanatory Notes for more information.

ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER FIVE STATE/TERRITORY DATA

Median ages, age-specific death rates (ASDRs), standardised death rates (SDRs) and infant mortality rates (IMRs) for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are included in this commentary for New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory only. These four states and the Northern Territory have been included due to there being evidence of sufficient levels of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identification and sufficient numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths to support mortality analysis. Total five state/territory combines data for these five jurisdictions.

These statistics are based on three year averages. They are calculated for each calendar year and then averaged.

Median ages

The median age at death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians for total five state/territory rose to 57.9 years in 2013-2015, up from 53.8 years in 2003-2005. Over the past 10 years, the median age at death for males rose to 54.9 years in 2013-2015 from 50.9 years in 2003-2005. Over the same period, the median age at death for females rose to 61.5 years from 58.4 years.

In comparison, the non-Indigenous median age at death was 81.9 years in 2013-2015, up by 2.2 years from the 2003-2005 figure of 79.7 years.

In 2013-2015, the median age at death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians varied across the five jurisdictions. For males, New South Wales had the highest median age at death (58.0 years) and Western Australia had the lowest (51.5 years). For females, New South Wales again had the highest median age at death (65.2 years) and the Northern Territory had the lowest (58.1 years). While the median age at death for non-Indigenous males and females varied across the five jurisdictions, they were significantly higher than medians for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

Age-specific death rates (calculated per 100,000 estimated resident population)

In 2013-2015, ASDRs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians for total five state/territory were higher in all age groups than those for non-Indigenous Australians. When 2003-2005 and 2013-2015 are compared, ASDRs for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population have declined in most age groups. For the non-Indigenous population, ASDRs have declined in all age groups.

The ASDRs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians were more than twice the rates for non-Indigenous Australians in the 25-64 years age group for New South Wales and the 5-14 years and 25-74 years age groups for Queensland. Of these two states, New South Wales had the largest difference in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous ASDRs for both males and females aged 35-44 years. In this age group Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australian ASDRs in New South Wales were over three times the non-Indigenous male and female rates.

For South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, ASDRs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians in some age groups were over four times the rates for non-Indigenous Australians. For these two states and the Northern Territory, the largest differences in ASDRs mainly occurred among those aged 35-44 years.

Standardised death rates (calculated per 1,000 standard population)

In 2013-2015, the SDR for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians for total five state/territory was 9.8 deaths per 1,000 standard population, down from 10.0 in 2003-2005. The SDR for males fell to 10.8 in 2013-2015 from 11.5 in 2003-2005. Over the same period, the SDR for females rose to 8.9 from 8.6.

In 2013-2015, the SDR for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians varied across the selected states and territory. The Northern Territory had the highest SDR at 15.2 deaths per 1,000 standard population while New South Wales had the lowest at 8.0.

Infant mortality rates (calculated per 1,000 live births)

In 2013-2015, the total five state/territory IMR for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians was around twice the rate for non-Indigenous Australians (6.5 and 3.3 per 1,000 live births respectively).

In the Northern Territory, IMRs for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population fell, while fluctuating, to 13.0 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2013-2015 from 15.6 in 2003-2005. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander IMRs in the Northern Territory were the highest of the five jurisdictions across the 2003-2005 to 2013-2015 period. All five state/territory IMRs fluctuated due to the small and variable number of registered infant deaths in these jurisdictions.