DEATHS OF ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER AUSTRALIANS
The first component necessary for the compilation of life tables for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians is information on all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths, by age and sex. These are required as numerators in the calculation of age-specific death rates from which life tables are produced.
Death registrations are collected in the form of administrative data from the Registrars of Births, Deaths and Marriages in each state/territory. While Australia maintains a high quality registration system of deaths, the level of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identification can vary across state/territory collections, across geography and over time. For all states and territories, death registration forms use a standard question to elicit information about a person's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin. However, response to this question can be influenced by a number of factors, including the perception of why such information is required, who completes the question regarding the deceased, and personal and cultural aspects associated with identifying as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. Also, there are significant differences among the state and territory registrars with regards to the way Indigenous status is coded.
It is considered likely that the overwhelming majority of deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are registered. However, some of these deaths are not identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander when they are registered. This may arise from the failure to report a person's Indigenous status on the death registration form or from an incorrect identification of their Indigenous status (that is, recording non-Indigenous instead of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) on the death certificate. Such mis-identification may occur because some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people may have non-Indigenous ancestries which may create uncertainty for those completing the death registration form as to how a deceased person should be identified. This issue remains a major challenge in developing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life tables, as well as in estimating the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population between Census years.
Numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths
Table 2.1 shows Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths registered from 1996 to 2012. Some observations may be made by a simple assessment of the numbers for each state and territory over time. Since 1996 the numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths registered in South Australia and Western Australia have been fairly consistent. For the Northern Territory and Tasmania, 2012 sees the highest number of registered deaths. At the national level, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander death registrations increased by around 2.4% in 2012.
2.1 REGISTERED ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER DEATHS(a), State/territory of usual residence - 1996 to 2012 |
|
| Year(d) | New South Wales | Victoria | Queensland(b) | South Australia | Western Australia | Tasmania | Northern Territory | Australian Capital Territory | Australia(c) |
|
| 1996 | 177 | 49 | 258 | 118 | 370 | np | 328 | np | 1 306 |
| 1997 | 88 | 93 | 531 | 132 | 351 | 5 | 458 | 4 | 1 662 |
| 1998 | 462 | 123 | 593 | 127 | 378 | 13 | 415 | 3 | 2 114 |
| 1999 | 435 | 130 | 529 | 116 | 350 | 11 | 399 | 6 | 1 976 |
| 2000 | 473 | 108 | 535 | 144 | 407 | np | 450 | np | 2 127 |
| 2001 | 481 | 93 | 565 | 125 | 345 | np | 429 | np | 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(e) | 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(f) | 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 |
|
| np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated |
| (a) Due to differing levels of identification for 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. |
| (b) Queensland began to register Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in 1996. |
| (c) Includes Other Territories |
| (d) Deaths are by registration year. |
| (e) From 2007, Indigenous status for deaths registered in South Australia Western Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory is sourced from both the Death Registration Form and Medical Certificate of Cause of Death. |
| (f) In 2010, the Queensland Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages undertook a deaths registration initiative that resulted in the registration of 374 previously unregistered deaths which occurred between 1992 and 2006. Of these, around three-quarters were deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. |
Deaths for which Indigenous status is unknown
In addition to those deaths identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, a number of deaths occur each year for which Indigenous status is not stated on the death registration form. In 2012, there were 1169 deaths registered in Australia for whom Indigenous status was not stated, representing 0.8% of all deaths registered. While this proportion has decreased over time (from a high of 4.4% in 2001) it is very likely that some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths are included in this category, further contributing to the uncertainty as to the true number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths.
Year of registration and year of occurrence of death
Deaths and related mortality statistics can be reported according to the period in which the death was registered or the period in which the death occurred. Ideally, mortality statistics should be based on year of occurrence, but ABS data, including life tables, are based on year of registration. This is due to known lags in the time between the occurrence and registration of deaths: while the majority of deaths in Australia are registered in the year they occur, some deaths registered in any given year have occurred in previous years. These delays in registration can arise due to a variety of reasons, and are more common for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths than non-Indigenous deaths.
For example, of all non-Indigenous deaths which occurred in Australia in 2011, around 95% were registered in 2011 (table 2.2). The corresponding figure was about 87% for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths.
2.2 PROPORTION OF DEATHS REGISTERED IN THE YEAR OF OCCURRENCE - 1996 to 2011(a) |
|
 | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples | Non-Indigenous |
| Year of occurrence | % | % |
|
| 1996 | 80.3 | 95.7 |
| 1997 | 82.8 | 96.2 |
| 1998 | 86.6 | 96.0 |
| 1999 | 85.4 | 95.9 |
| 2000 | 85.4 | 95.5 |
| 2001 | 85.5 | 95.3 |
| 2002 | 86.0 | 95.8 |
| 2003 | 85.6 | 96.0 |
| 2004 | 87.3 | 96.1 |
| 2005 | 85.4 | 95.5 |
| 2006 | 86.0 | 95.1 |
| 2007 | 86.5 | 93.9 |
| 2008 | 86.2 | 95.0 |
| 2009 | 87.0 | 94.6 |
| 2010(b) | 88.0 | 94.9 |
| 2011 | 87.4 | 95.2 |
|
| (a) Based on deaths registered up to December 2012. |
| (b) In 2010, the Queensland Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages undertook a deaths registration initiative that resulted in the registration of 374 previously unregistered deaths which occurred between 1992 and 2006. Of these, around three-quarters were deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. |
While the proportion of deaths registered in the same year of occurrence is lower for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths than non-Indigenous deaths, there is little difference between the number of deaths registered in a given year and the number of deaths that occurred in the same year (see table 2.3). This is because, for each year, the number of deaths not registered in the year they occur are compensated for by deaths that occurred in previous years but were registered late [see also
The Health and Welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, Oct 2010 (cat. no. 4704.0)]. This indicates that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths according to year of registration will produce similar death rates and life expectancy estimates as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths according to year of occurrence data.
2.3 ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER DEATHS BY REGISTRATION AND OCCURRENCE - July 2006 - June 2011 |
|
| MALES | FEMALES |
| State/territory | Registered | Occurred | Registered | Occurred |
|
| NSW | 1 646 | 1 659 | 1 313 | 1 326 |
| Vic. | 298 | 294 | 256 | 256 |
| Qld(a) | 1 786 | 1 619 | 1 527 | 1 383 |
| SA | 368 | 367 | 349 | 349 |
| WA | 1 249 | 1 243 | 965 | 955 |
| Tas. | 73 | 73 | 66 | 66 |
| NT | 1 229 | 1 236 | 1 035 | 1 037 |
| ACT | 33 | 34 | 22 | 21 |
| Aust. | 6 684 | 6 527 | 5 534 | 5 394 |
|
| (a) In 2010, the Queensland Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages undertook a deaths registration initiative that resulted in the registration of 374 previously unregistered deaths which occurred between 1992 and 2006. Of these, around three-quarters were deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. |
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