Deaths, Australia

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Statistics about deaths and mortality rates for Australia, states and territories, and sub-state regions

Reference period
2018
Released
25/09/2019

Key statistics

  • There were 158,493 registered deaths, a decrease of 1.5% since 2017.
  • The standardised death rate decreased to 5.1 deaths, from 5.3 in 2017.
  • Infant deaths decreased by 31 deaths to 988.
  • There were 3,218 deaths where the deceased was Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, or both.
Summary statistics
200820172018
All deathsno.143,946160,909158,493
Infant deathsno.1,2261,019988
Standardised death raterate6.15.35.1
Crude death raterate6.86.56.3
Infant mortality raterate4.13.33.1

The standardised death rate uses the age distribution of total persons in the Australian population at 30 June 2001 as the standard population. Expressed as deaths per 1,000 standard population. 

The crude death rate is the number of deaths registered during the calendar year per 1,000 estimated resident population at 30 June. 

The infant mortality rate is the number of deaths of children under one year of age in a specified period per 1,000 live births in the same period.

Births registered by Indigenous status of the birth(a)

National

Deaths registered

  • There were 158,493 deaths registered, 2,416 less than the number registered in 2017 (160,909).
  • There were more male deaths (82,320) than female deaths (76,173), resulting in a sex ratio of 108.1 male deaths for every 100 female deaths.
  • Since 2008, the number of deaths registered has increased by around 1.1% per year on average for males and 0.8% per year for females, with year-to-year fluctuations.

Age and sex distribution

 

  • The distribution of deaths by age and sex reflects males dying at a younger age than females until age 84 years.

  • At age 85-89 years and onwards, females record more deaths than males.

Median age at death

Standardised death rate

The standardised death rate: 

  • decreased to 5.1 deaths per 1,000 standard population, from 5.3 in 2017
  • declined from 6.1 in 2008 to 5.1 in 2018, with both males and females showing a similar decline

Crude death rate

Age-specific death rate

States and territories

Deaths registered

Over three quarters (77.4%) of deaths registered were to usual residents of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland combined.

Deaths registered by state and territory of usual residence
State or territory2008 (no.)2017 (no.)2018 (no.)2018 (%)
New South Wales48,78252,77853,63333.8
Victoria35,49739,79138,23124.1
Queensland27,33531,55530,86019.5
South Australia12,61614,05213,5718.6
Western Australia12,75214,49414,6529.2
Tasmania4,2194,7804,2872.7
Northern Territory1,0411,1061,1100.7
Australian Capital Territory1,6972,3202,1271.3
Australia(a)143,946160,909158,493100
  1. Includes Other Territories. 

Median age at death

Standardised death rate

In 2018, the standardised death rate was:

  • highest in the Northern Territory (7.2 deaths per 1,000 standard population), followed by Tasmania (5.6)
  • lowest in Victoria (4.7) 

Over the past ten years, standardised death rates:

  • declined in all states and territories
  • declined the most in the Northern Territory (2.3 deaths per 1,000 standard population), followed by Tasmania (1.3) 

Infants

Deaths registered

  • There were 988 infant deaths (deaths of children aged less than one year) registered (571 boys and 417 girls). 
  • This was a 3.0% decrease compared with the number registered in 2017 (1,019). 
  • Over the past ten years, the number of infant deaths has decreased overall (with some fluctuations) from 1,226 in 2008.

Infant mortality rate

Australia has one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world. 

The infant mortality rate was:

  • 3.1 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, compared with 3.3 in 2017
  • 4.1 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2008

 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

Summary statistics(a)
200820172018
All deathsno.2,2152,9883,218
Infant deathsno.10111399
Standardised death raterate10.09.09.1
Crude death raterate4.04.24.2
Infant mortality raterate8.26.25.8
  1. Data for Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory (based on state or territory of usual residence) are excluded due to the small numbers of registered Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths.

Deaths registered

  • There were 3,518 deaths registered where the deceased person was recorded as being Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, or both. 
  • Increased by 268 deaths from 2017.
Deaths by Indigenous status
State or territory of usual residenceAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (no.)Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (%)Non-Indigenous (no.)Non-Indigenous (%)Not stated (no.)Not stated (%)Total (no.)
NSW9601.851,95296.97211.353,633
Vic.2110.637,84499.01760.538,231
Qld9633.129,84796.7500.230,860
SA2231.613,33898.3100.113,571
WA5633.814,01695.7730.514,652
Tas.661.54,21098.2110.34,287
NT50945.960054.140.41,110
ACT221.02,10198.840.22,127
Aust.(a)3,5182.2153,91397.11,0620.7158,493
  1. Includes Other Territories.

Deaths by year of registration and year of occurrence

While the interval between the occurrence and registration of deaths is often longer for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples than for non-Indigenous, there is little difference between the number registered and occurred in a given year. The number of deaths not registered in the year that they occurred are balanced by deaths that occurred in the previous years but were subsequently registered. Data for the latest year will be underestimated if reported on a year of occurrence basis. 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths, state or territory of usual residence by year of registration

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths, state or territory of usual residence by year of occurrence(d)

Age and sex distribution

Deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are more widely spread across younger age groups, whereas deaths of non-Indigenous people are concentrated in the older age groups. This reflects a younger age profile for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples five state/territory data

Median ages, age-specific death rates, standardised death rates and infant mortality rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are not included for Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory as it isn't of sufficient quality. Total five state/territory combines data for the other jurisdictions. 

Median age at death

Standardised death rate

The standardised death rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples:

  • was 9.1 deaths per 1,000 standard population, lower than 10.0 deaths per 1,000 ten years ago
  • for males fell to 10.2 from 11.4 ten years ago 
  • for females decreased to 8.1 from 8.8 over the same period
  • varied across the selected states and territory
  • was highest in the Northern Territory at 13.2 deaths per 1,000 standard population, and lowest in New South Wales at 6.8 deaths per 1,000

Age-specific death rate

Infant mortality rate

Data downloads

Table 1: Deaths, country of birth, Australia - 2018

Table 2: Median age at death, year of occurrence, states, territories and Australia, 2008 to 2018

Table 3: Deaths, summary, Statistical Area Level 4 - 2012 to 2018

Table 4: Deaths, summary, Statistical Area Level 2 - 2012 to 2018

Table 5: Deaths, summary, Local Government Areas - 2012 to 2018

Table 6: Deaths, summary, Remoteness Areas - 2012 to 2018

Table 7: Deaths, Indigenous status, summary, Remoteness Areas, Australia - 2012 to 2018

All data cubes

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 3302.0.

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