Deaths, Australia

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

Reference period
2021
Released
29/09/2022

Key statistics

  • There were 171,469 registered deaths in 2021, an increase of 10,169 since 2020.
  • The standardised death rate increased to 5.1 deaths, from 4.9 in 2020.
  • Infant deaths increased by 66 deaths to 1,009.
Summary statistics
201120202021(a)
All deaths146,932161,300171,469
Infant deaths1,1409431,009
Standardised death rate5.74.95.1
Crude death rate6.66.36.7
Infant mortality rate3.83.23.3
  1. All jurisdictions recorded an increase in death registrations in 2021. This follows lower death counts in 2020, after the introduction of public health measures to limit the spread of COVID-19. 

The standardised death rate (SDR) uses the age distribution of total persons in the Australian population at 30 June 2001 as the standard population. The SDR is 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.

This publication presents statistics about deaths and mortality rates in the reference year 2021. The ABS will release Causes of Death data for 2021 in October 2022.

National

Deaths registered

  • There were 171,469 deaths registered in 2021, an increase of 10,169 from 2020 (161,300).
  • There were more male deaths (89,401) than female deaths (82,068), resulting in a sex ratio of 108.9 male deaths for every 100 female deaths.
  1. All jurisdictions recorded an increase in death registrations in 2021. This follows lower death counts in 2020, after the introduction of public health measures to limit the spread of COVID-19. 

Age and sex distribution

  • In every age group spanning 0-84 years, there were more male deaths than there were female deaths.

  • At age 85-89 years and onwards, more female deaths were recorded than male deaths.

  1. Excludes deaths for which age was not stated.

Median age at death

The median age at death:

  • was 79.4 years for males and 84.8 years for females
  • for males increased by 0.5 since 2020
  • for females increased by 0.2 since 2020
  • has increased by 1.0 years for males and 0.3 years for females over the past ten years.

Standardised death rate

The standardised death rate: 

  • increased to 5.1 deaths per 1,000 standard population, from 4.9 in 2020
  • decreased to 5.1 in 2021 from 5.7 in 2011, with both males and females showing a similar decrease.
  1. All jurisdictions recorded an increase in death registrations in 2021. This follows lower death counts in 2020, after the introduction of public health measures to limit the spread of COVID-19. 

Crude death rate

The crude death rate: 

  • was 6.7 deaths per 1,000 population
  • increased from 6.3 deaths in 2020 and was similar to 2011 (6.6).

Age-specific death rate

The age-specific death rate (ASDR) is the number of deaths (registered) during the calendar year, at a specified age, per 1,000 of the estimated resident population (ERP) at the mid-point of the year (30 June). Pro rata adjustment is made in respect of deaths for which the age of the deceased is not given.

The age-specific death rates: 

  • were higher for males than females for nearly all age groups
  • were under one death per 1,000 population for age groups below 35-39 years (except age 0), with the lowest rates in age groups 5-9 and 10-14 years for both males (0.1) and females (0.1)
  • more than doubled between the age groups 45-49 years (1.7) and 55-59 years (3.9), then progressively increased for each subsequent age group. This was consistent for both males and females
  • highest in age group 100+ years for both males (475.5) and females (440.6).

States and territories

Deaths registered

Over three-quarters (77.5%) 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 territory2011 (no.)2020 (no.)2021 (no.)2021 (%)
New South Wales50,66152,48556,52533.0
Victoria36,55241,09342,48624.8
Queensland27,41431,36733,85819.7
South Australia12,66513,60714,4948.5
Western Australia12,72414,99315,8919.3
Tasmania4,2454,4354,7692.8
Northern Territory9641,1411,2110.7
Australian Capital Territory1,7002,1622,2071.3
Australia(a)(b)146,932161,300171,469100.0
  1. All jurisdictions recorded an increase in death registrations in 2021. This follows lower death counts in 2020, after the introduction of public health measures to limit the spread of COVID-19. 
  2. Includes Other Territories. 

Median age at death

Median age at death was: 

  • highest in South Australia for both males (80.2 years) and females (85.9 years)
  • lowest in the Northern Territory (66.8 years for males and 68.2 years for females).

Standardised death rate

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 the Australian Capital Territory (4.6).

Over the past ten years, standardised death rates:

  • decreased in all states and territories
  • decreased the most in both Tasmania (5.6 deaths from 6.4 in 2011) and the Northern Territory (7.2 deaths from 8.0 in 2011), then New South Wales (5.1 deaths from 5.8 in 2011) and Victoria (4.9 deaths from 5.6 in 2011).

(a) Includes Other Territories

Infants

Births registered by Indigenous status of the birth

Births registered by Indigenous status of the birth(a)
State or territory of usual residenceSexAboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderNon-IndigenousNot stated(b)Total
NSW
Males4,06348,0083152,102
Females3,99045,2142649,230
Persons8,05393,22257101,332
Vic.
Males86837,10847538,451
Females90535,52348436,912
Persons1,77372,63195975,363
Qld
Males3,72929,0862032,835
Females3,63127,6212431,276
Persons7,36056,7074464,111
SA
Males6199,4524310,114
Females5399,055499,643
Persons1,15818,5079219,757
WA
Males1,49915,75721017,466
Females1,38115,00718516,573
Persons2,88030,76439534,039
Tas.
Males3672,74413,114
Females3182,60012,920
Persons6855,34456,034
NT
Males6981,22411,923
Females6651,19521,861
Persons1,3632,41943,784
ACT
Males1202,77222,894
Females1152,53332,649
Persons2355,30535,543
Aust.(c)
Males11,964146,166787158,917
Females11,546138,759774151,079
Persons23,510284,9251,561309,996
  1. Limited births data have been included to allow for the calculation of infant mortality rates. Detailed births and fertility data will be released in Births.
  2. Where necessary, small values have been adjusted to protect confidentiality. As a result, sums of components may not add exactly to totals.
  3. Includes Other Territories.

Deaths registered

Infant deaths are defined as deaths of children aged less than one year.

  • There were 1,009 infant deaths registered (559 boys and 450 girls).
  • This was a 7.0% increase compared with the number registered in 2020 (943).
  • Over the past ten years, the number of infant deaths decreased overall from 1,140 in 2011.

Infant mortality rate

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

The infant mortality rate was:

  • 3.3 infant deaths per 1,000 live births
  • similar to the rate in 2020 (3.2) and decreased from 2011 (3.8).

 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

Deaths registered

  • In 2021 there were 4,081 deaths registered where the person was identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.
  • This represents an increase of 18 deaths nationally from 2020.
  • New South Wales recorded the largest increase, 1,206 deaths compared with 1,155 in 2020.
  • The Northern Territory recorded the next largest increase with 545 deaths, up from 507 in 2020.
  • The number of deaths in Victoria decreased from 341 deaths in 2020, to 256 deaths, and Western Australia's deaths decreased from 626 deaths in 2020 to 604 deaths.
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.)
NSW1,2062.154,86897.14510.856,525
Vic.2560.641,78598.44451.042,486
Qld1,1013.332,67996.5780.233,858
SA2401.714,23498.2200.114,494
WA6043.815,21195.7760.515,891
Tas.1022.14,64997.5180.44,769
NT54545.066554.940.31,211
ACT251.12,18098.840.22,207
Aust.(a)4,0812.4166,28297.01,1060.6171,469
  1. Includes Other Territories.

Age and sex distribution

Deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are more widely spread across younger age groups, whereas deaths of non-Indigenous people are concentrated in the older age groups. This reflects higher birth rates and lower life expectancy in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population compared with that in the non-Indigenous population.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people five state/territory data

Median ages, age-specific death rates, standardised death rates and infant mortality rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are included in this commentary for New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory only. These five jurisdictions have been included as they have sufficient levels of identification and sufficient numbers of deaths to support mortality analysis. The total therefore represents the total for these five jurisdictions only.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, summary statistics(a)
201120202021
All deaths2,3873,6113,696
Infant deaths10510390
Standardised death rate(b)9.59.49.5
Crude death rate(b)3.94.64.7
Infant mortality rate(b)6.95.45.2
  1. Includes data for the five states and territories - New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. 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 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths.
  2. These rates are based on three-year averages. They are calculated for each calendar year and then averaged.

Median age at death

The median age at death for: 

  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was 61.7 years, up from 56.7 years 10 years ago
  • non-Indigenous people was 82.0 years, compared with 81.3 years 10 years ago.

Age-specific death rate

Age-specific death rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people:

  • were higher in all age groups than those for non-Indigenous people
  • decreased in most age groups, with the exception of 45-54, 55-64 and 75+ years age groups, compared with 10 years ago.

The broader 25-54 years age group had the highest age-specific death rates compared to the non-Indigenous population.

Standardised death rate

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

  • was 9.5 deaths per 1,000 standard population, the same as 10 years ago
  • for males fell to 10.6 from 10.8 10 years ago
  • for females remained the same at 8.4 deaths over the same period
  • was highest in the Northern Territory at 12.9 and lowest in New South Wales at 7.8.

Infant mortality rate

The infant mortality rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: 

  • was 5.2 deaths per 1,000 live births, compared with 3.1 deaths for non-Indigenous people
  • was the highest in the Northern Territory (of the five jurisdictions) in both the 2009-2011 (13.0) and 2019-2021 (13.4) periods
  • fluctuated over the 10-year period for all five jurisdictions due to the small and variable number of registered infant deaths.

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 people than for the non-Indigenous population, there is normally little difference between the number of deaths registered and the number that occurred in a given year. The number of deaths not registered in the year that they occurred are balanced by the number of 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 by year of registration

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths, state or territory(a) of usual residence by year of registration
NSWVic.Qld(b)(c)SAWATas.NTACTAust.(d)
19994351305291163501139961,976
2000473108535144407845022,127
2001481935651253453242932,072
2002516645901073712046242,136
2003485825691373382343592,079
20044905457913140020449102,136
20055077151914240628454112,141
200653011158412444320452142,279
2007601955941384492446162,368
20085599756214148624467162,353
200959110663216041630431102,377
201062211794814743637447132,767
201172612862914145430437122,558
20126351006781514664553962,620
201375312376517745727489182,811
201479413968816951731562132,914
201582214184216751150537173,088
201685717588417056554443193,168
201785718689722250852504223,250
201896021196322356366509223,518
20191,1222541,01622357868496293,787
20201,1553411,09722662688507214,063
20211,2062561,101240604102545254,081
  1. 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.
  2. 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 Notes.
  3. 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 Notes.
  4. Includes Other Territories.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths by year of occurrence

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths, state or territory(a) of usual residence by year of occurrence(b)
NSWVic.Qld(c)(d)SAWATas.NTACTAust.(e)
19994331055411173491243872,002
20004801156191403841042912,178
2001487815811223682943032,100
2002508646141083852247152,179
20034948359514432422419122,095
2004481556351343911943772,161
20055088154214041632496122,230
200653111759212446216454122,309
2007599945931434622546582,389
20085599755414447623491142,359
200959610962814840933440122,376
201064013363314942635429122,458
201171110565014844432486112,587
20126661136821584524350872,629
201375711975016746529509172,815
201479713571917749731547162,920
201579915084015853350504163,051
201686520685117854153463193,177
201790019192222653156517233,368
201896419995422255464545203,523
20191,0882751,01022557270480333,754
20201,1803091,11322762684516224,079
20211,105223976206512101364193,508
  1. 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.
  2. Includes deaths registered up to and including 31 December 2021. The number of deaths presented on a year of occurrence basis is subject to change, as deaths that occurred prior to 31 December 2021 but have not yet been registered are registered in subsequent years. See Explanatory Notes for more information.
  3. 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 Notes.
  4. 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 Notes.
  5. Includes Other Territories.

Data downloads

Table 1: Deaths, Country of birth, Australia - 2021

Table 2: Median age at death, Year of occurrence, States and territories, 2011 to 2021

Table 3: Deaths, Summary, Statistical Area Level 4 - 2011 to 2021

Table 4: Deaths, Summary, Statistical Area Level 2 - 2011 to 2021

Table 5: Deaths, Summary, Local Government Areas - 2011 to 2021

Table 6: Deaths, Summary, Remoteness Areas - 2011 to 2021

Table 7: Deaths, Indigenous status, Summary, Remoteness Areas, Australia - 2011 to 2021

All data cubes

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 3302.0.

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