Provisional Mortality Statistics

Latest release

Provisional deaths data for measuring changes in patterns of mortality

Reference period
Jan - Mar 2025

Key statistics

  • 42,081 deaths occurred between January and March 2025, 4.1% fewer than 2024 and 1.6% fewer than 2023.
  • 14,310 deaths occurred in March 2025, 4.6% fewer than 2024 and 3.8% fewer than 2023.
  • There have been 180 deaths from influenza between January and April 2025, higher than 2017 and 2019 (see article).

From July 2025 there will be changes to the scheduling of the Provisional Mortality Statistics publication. These include: 

  • Provisional Mortality Statistics weekly and monthly deaths (including datacubes) will be released quarterly instead of every two months.
  • The Provisional Mortality Statistics "summary mortality updates" will no longer be published. These are currently published every two months (on months when the full Provisional Mortality Statistics publication is not released).
  • There will be an increase in the release of articles on Acute Respiratory Infection deaths. 

This publication presents the number of deaths occurring by week and month. From April 2025, deaths occurring in 2025 will be presented. Key considerations are:

  • Deaths occurring in 2025 will have two comparison points: 2023 and 2024. This is the same format for deaths that occurred in 2024, which were compared to 2022 and 2023. Reasons for this presentation of data has been outlined in previous publications.
  • Age-standardised death rates can be accessed via the data downloads tab in this publication.
  • A time series of weekly and monthly deaths occurring from 2015 is available in the data downloads section of this publication. Customised datasets are able to be created from these data cubes.
  • The data in this publication is not an excess mortality estimate. Excess mortality estimates to December 2023 are available in published articles from the following links: ‘Measuring Australia’s excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic until December 2023’ (published 28 June 2024), and excess mortality estimates by remoteness areas (published 28 February 2025).
  • More detailed analysis on mortality from influenza and respiratory syncytial virus and COVID-19 are provided in the attached article: 'Deaths due to COVID-19, influenza and RSV in Australia - 2023 - May 2025'.

Australian deaths by week

All-cause deaths

For all deaths:

  • In 2025, there were 42,081 deaths that occurred by 31 March and were registered by 31 May 2025. This is 1,778 deaths (4.1%) fewer than in 2024, and 683 (1.6%) fewer than in 2023.
  • 14,310 deaths occurred in March 2025 and were registered by 31 May. This is 688 deaths (4.6%) fewer than in 2024, and 558 (3.8%) fewer than in 2023.
  • 12,578 of the deaths occurring in March 2025 were doctor certified and 1,732 were coroner referred.
  • The age-standardised death rate (SDR) for March was 37.9 deaths per 100,000 people, lower than death rates for both 2023 (41.1) and 2024 (42.0). 

Deaths are presented by counts only. Counts of death do not account for changes in population. See data downloads for weekly and monthly age-standardised death rate calculations. 

a. Data is by occurrence.
b. Data is provisional and subject to change.
c. Weeks are defined as seven-day periods which start on a Monday as per the ISO week date system. Refer to 'Weekly comparisons' on the methodology page of this publication for more information regarding the data in this graph. Week 1 ended 8 Jan 2023, 7 Jan 2024 and 5 Jan 2025.

Age-specific death rates

The following table shows age-specific death rates (deaths per 100,000 population) for different age groups by sex in March 2025, presented with both those from 2024 and 2023. All references to "death rates" in this section refer to age-specific death rates. 

March 2025

  • Across all age groups, death rates were lower in March 2025 compared to the same month in 2024 and 2023. Compared to March 2024, death rates ranged between 5.4% to 12.7% lower across all age groups with the largest decrease in those aged 45 to 64 years. Compared to March 2023, death rates were between 7.4% and 12.5% lower.
  • For males, the death rate for those aged 45 to 64 years was 18.1% lower in March 2025 than in 2024, and 14.2% lower than in 2023. The death rate for those aged 65 to 74 years was 10.1% lower than in 2024 and 11.1% lower than in 2023.
  • For females, the death rate for those aged younger than 65 to 74 years was 2.0% higher in March 2025 than in 2024, but 4.6% lower than in 2023. All other age groups had a lower death rate in 2025 than in 2024 or 2023. The death rate for those aged under 45 years was 17.7% lower in March 2025 than in 2024 and 12.3% lower than in 2023.
  • For all age groups, males have a higher death rate compared to females, with the rate ratio being largest in the youngest age group and smallest in the oldest age group.

Year to date, January to March 2025

  • For males and females, all death rates for January to March 2025 are lower than the comparable rates in 2024 and 2023. The death rate for males aged under 45 years in 2025 is 15.4% lower than in 2024 and 10.5% lower than in 2023. For females, the death rate for those aged under 45 years is 10.4% lower than in 2024 and 15.8% lower than in 2023.
Age specific rates, 2025, 2024, 2023 (a) (b) (c) (d)
 MarchJanuary - March
 202520242023202520242023
Persons 
0-443.8274.3634.31411.08912.85912.654
45-6425.58029.28528.55976.36784.45282.248
65-7485.95390.89394.009256.146272.244271.205
75-84244.619261.960279.432718.126764.639794.478
85 and over971.9661,044.4391,052.9802,839.2833,040.3213,041.645
All ages51.92555.32556.091152.695161.789161.330
Males 
0-445.0795.6075.69814.39417.01716.086
45-6431.05737.90736.18696.380108.543105.308
65-74104.047115.760117.079316.130341.235335.340
75-84290.423314.331333.005854.695908.518949.984
85 and over1,048.0551,105.7971,122.5273,005.5493,221.5743,269.794
All ages54.58658.90859.356160.945171.553170.977
Females 
0-442.5363.0822.8917.6838.5779.126
45-6420.30620.97621.19957.09461.23559.997
65-7469.37468.03872.704201.185208.834211.976
75-84203.854215.183231.523596.580636.130655.412
85 and over920.0011,003.3231,007.1172,725.7302,918.8642,891.190
All ages49.30251.79352.872144.562152.162151.821

a. Data is by occurrence.
b. Data is provisional and subject to change.
c. Doctor certified and coroner referred deaths are included.
d. Age-specific death rates reflect deaths per 100,000 of the estimated resident population (ERP).

Mortality by selected causes of death

Cause-specific mortality

The following analysis is based only on doctor certified deaths (i.e. coroner referred deaths are not included). Any changes in patterns of coroner referral could affect counts of doctor certified deaths. Some conditions have higher coroner referral rates (ischaemic heart disease, cerebrovascular diseases and to a lesser extent, respiratory diseases and diabetes) so counts for those conditions would be more likely to be affected by such changes.

COVID-19

  • In March 2025 there were 106 deaths due to COVID-19 that were certified by a doctor. Deaths due to the virus in March 2025 were 58.4% lower than in 2024 (255 deaths) and 59.1% lower than 2023 (259 deaths).
  • Between January and March 2025 there have been 475 deaths due to COVID-19 that were certified by a doctor. This is 50.2% fewer than in 2024 and 60.5% fewer than in 2023.
  • In March 2025 there were 32 people who died with COVID-19 being identified (via death certificates) as a contributing factor to their death (ie. COVID-19 was certified on the death certificate but it was not the underlying cause of death).

Other causes of death

March 2025

  • Deaths due to respiratory diseases in March 2025 were 3.9% higher than 2024 and 5.7% higher than in 2023. There were 44 deaths due to influenza in March 2025, compared to 18 in 2024 and 11 in 2023. Deaths due to pneumonia and chronic respiratory diseases were both lower in 2025 than in 2024 or 2023.
  • The 689 deaths due to cerebrovascular diseases in March 2025 were the same as in 2024 but 5.7% lower than in 2023.
  • Deaths due to cancer, dementia, ischaemic heart disease, other cardiac conditions and diabetes were lower in March 2025 than in 2024 or 2023. 

Year to date, January to March 2025

  • Deaths due to respiratory diseases between January and March 2025 are comparable to 2024 and 9.8% higher than in 2023. Deaths due to chronic lower respiratory diseases and pneumonia are lower in 2025 than in 2024 and higher than in 2023, while deaths due to influenza are higher in 2025 than in 2024 or 2023.
  • Deaths due to dementia in 2025 are comparable to 2024 and 3.9% higher than in 2023.
  • Deaths due to cancer in 2025 are 3.2% lower than in 2024 and comparable to 2023.
  • Deaths due to ischaemic heart disease, other cardiac conditions, cerebrovascular diseases and diabetes were all lower in 2025 than in 2024 or 2023.
Doctor certified deaths by cause, 2025, 2024, 2023 (a)(b)
 MarchJanuary - March
 202520242023202520242023
Cancer4,2744,4084,43512,37912,79112,455
Dementia1,3851,4931,3924,0374,0653,885
Respiratory diseases1,1431,1001,0813,3053,2983,010
 Chronic lower respiratory diseases5896096021,7781,8041,668
 Influenza and pneumonia213204194621603492
  Pneumonia169186183521532471
Ischaemic heart disease9159781,1142,7682,9163,087
Other cardiac conditions7097798002,2322,3392,293
Cerebrovascular diseases6896897311,9382,0132,094
Diabetes3954104071,1541,2071,289
COVID-191062552594759541,203

a. Only doctor certified deaths are included.
b. Data is by date of occurrence.

Timeliness and completeness of data

Each death registration in the national mortality dataset has 3 dates:

  • The date on which the death occurred.
  • The date on which the death was registered with the jurisdictional Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages (RBDM).
  • The date on which the death was lodged with the ABS. 

When looking to measure change over time, the completeness of data for the most recent period is important. When data is received each month by the ABS, the lag between the date of death and the date of registration means that approximately 40-50% of reported registrations are of deaths that occurred in the month being reported. The remainder are deaths that occurred in earlier months.

In June 2025, the ABS received 16,541 death registrations. Of these, 16,310 deaths occurred in 2025, 185 occurred in 2024 and the remaining 46 occurred in 2023 or earlier years.

For deaths which are doctor certified, approximately 95% of registrations are received after a second month of reporting, while for coroner certified deaths, the proportion of registrations reported after a second month is lower (approximately 80%). This is because it takes longer for coroners to certify deaths due to the complexity of investigations.

As coroner referred deaths make up a smaller proportion of all deaths (approximately 11-14%) their inclusion in all-cause data only reduces the overall completeness by around 2%. This should be considered when making comparisons with historical counts, noting also that the level of completeness will be higher for the start of any given month than the end of that month. 

This pattern of registration and reporting is highlighted in the table below, which also shows the slight variation in reporting timelines by cause of death.

Estimated completeness of death registrations received by the ABS (a)(b)(c)
 Total proportion reported at the end of
Cause of deaththe month the death occurred (%)the month after the death occurred (%)two months after the death occurred (%)
All cause - doctor and coroner certified42.993.597.7
All cause - doctor certified only45.695.398.6
All cause - coroner certified only24.080.991.7
Ischaemic heart disease (I20 – I25)44.094.998.4
Other cardiac conditions (I26 – I51)45.795.898.8
Cerebrovascular diseases (I60 – I69)46.495.698.8
Respiratory diseases (J00 – J99)46.096.299.1
Chronic lower respiratory diseases (J40 – J47)44.594.398.1
Influenza and pneumonia (J09 – J18)45.595.698.7
Cancer (C00 – C97, D45, D46, D47.1, D47.3 – D47.5)47.095.898.8
Diabetes (E10 – E14)43.892.597.0
Dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease (F01, F03, G30, G31.0, G31.8)46.296.199.0

a. Percentages are based on the date registrations were received by the ABS for deaths that occurred in 2020-2024.
b. Only doctor certified deaths are included for cause-specific data.
c. Data is provisional and subject to change.

The graphs below show how numbers of deaths for each period have increased over time as additional registrations that occurred in previous months are reported to the ABS. Due to these increases, data for the most recently reported periods should be treated with caution.

Data downloads

Provisional Mortality Statistics, Jan - Mar 2025

Data files

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 3303.0.55.004

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