ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER DEATHS


DEATHS OF ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER AUSTRALIANS

There were 3,168 deaths registered in Australia in 2016 where the deceased person was recorded as being 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 - 2016
State or territory of usual residence	Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander			Non-Indigenous		Not stated		Total
		no.	%	no.	%	no.	%	no.
NSW		857	1.6	52 479	97.7	358	0.7	53 694
Vic.		175	0.4	39 155	99.3	120	0.3	39 450
Qld(a)		884	3.0	28 571	96.2	235	0.8	29 690
SA		170	1.3	13 152	98.6	15	0.1	13 337
WA		565	3.8	14 123	95.2	151	1.0	14 839
Tas.		54	1.2	4 540	98.8	3	0.1	4 595
NT		443	42.4	600	57.5	4	0.4	1 044
ACT		19	1.0	1 800	97.9	20	1.1	1 839
Aust.(b)(c)		3 168	2.0	154 435	97.4	901	0.6	158 504
(a) 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. (b) Deaths occurred on Norfolk Island from 1 July 2016 are included in this publication for the first time. See Explanatory Note 5 for more information.
(c) Includes Other Territories.

Deaths by Year of registration and Year of occurrence

The following table presents deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by year of registration and year of occurrence separately for those deaths registered up to and including 31 December 2016. 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 2016
		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
2016(g)		857	175	884	170	565	54	443	19	3 168
YEAR OF OCCURRENCE(h)
1999		433	106	540	119	347	12	438	7	1 999
2000		480	115	619	140	384	8	429	2	2 178
2001		487	81	581	122	368	29	430	1	2 100
2002		508	64	614	108	384	22	471	5	2 178
2003		494	83	595	144	324	22	419	12	2 095
2004		481	55	634	134	391	19	437	7	2 160
2005		507	81	542	140	416	32	495	12	2 228
2006		529	117	591	123	462	16	454	12	2 305
2007		599	94	589	140	462	25	464	8	2 381
2008		559	97	554	144	475	23	491	14	2 358
2009		596	109	628	147	409	33	440	12	2 375
2010		640	132	632	149	425	35	429	12	2 455
2011		711	104	649	148	444	32	483	11	2 582
2012		666	113	680	158	449	43	505	7	2 621
2013		755	116	749	166	462	29	508	17	2 804
2014		796	132	714	177	497	30	543	16	2 906
2015		798	144	837	157	529	50	497	16	3 029
2016(g)		811	156	773	157	487	52	344	17	2 798
(a) The death of a person who is recorded as being Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, or both on the Death Registration Form and/or the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death. For further information see Explanatory Note 28.
(b) State or territory of usual residence.
(c) Due to differing levels of recording Indigenous status by the states and territories registrars, and over time, care should be taken in interpreting change in numbers of deaths.
(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 Explanatory Note 36 in 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) Deaths occurred on Norfolk Island from 1 July 2016 are included in this publication for the first time. See Explanatory Note 5 for more information. (h) Includes deaths registered up to and including 31 December 2016. The number of deaths presented on a year of occurrence basis is subject to change, as deaths that occurred prior to 31 December 2016 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 58.8 years in 2014-2016, up from 54.4 years in 2004-2006. Over the past 10 years, the median age at death for males rose to 55.9 years in 2014-2016 from 51.3 years in 2004-2006. Over the same period, the median age at death for females rose to 61.9 years from 59.0 years.

In comparison, the non-Indigenous median age at death was 82.0 years in 2014-2016, up by 2.0 years from the 2004-2006 figure of 80.0 years.

In 2014-2016, 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 (58.4 years) and Western Australia had the lowest (51.3 years). For females, New South Wales again had the highest median age at death (65.0 years) and the Northern Territory had the lowest (58.7 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 2014-2016, 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. During the ten year period to 2014-2016, ASDRs for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population have declined in most age groups with the exception of 5-14, 45-54 and 75 years and over age groups. For the non-Indigenous population, ASDRs have declined in all age groups during this period.

In 2014-2016, the 35-44 years age group has the highest ratio of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ASDRs to the non-Indigenous ASDRs for all five states/territory except for South Australia. For this age group, the Northern Territory has the highest rate ratio of 6.6 meaning that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ASDRs were 6.6 times the non-Indigenous ASDRs. The second highest rate ratio was in Western Australia (5.8), followed by New South Wales (3.2) and Queensland (2.9). South Australia has the highest rate ratio of 4.5 in the 5-14 years age group.

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

In 2014-2016, the SDR for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians for total five state/territory was 9.6 deaths per 1,000 standard population, down from 10.0 in 2004-2006. The SDR for males fell to 10.6 in 2014-2016 from 11.5 in 2004-2006. Over the same period, the SDR for females remained steady at 8.7 deaths per 1,000 standard population.

In 2014-2016, the SDR for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians varied across the selected states and territory. The Northern Territory had the highest SDR at 14.7 deaths per 1,000 standard population while New South Wales had the lowest at 7.5.

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

In 2014-2016, the total five state/territory IMR for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians was almost twice the rate for non-Indigenous Australians (6.2 and 3.2 per 1,000 live births respectively).

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander IMRs in the Northern Territory were the highest of the five jurisdictions across the 2004-2006 to 2014-2016 period. In the Northern Territory, IMRs for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population fell, while fluctuating to 13.9 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2014-2016 from 16.7 in 2004-2006. All five state/territory IMRs fluctuated due to the small and variable number of registered infant deaths in these jurisdictions.