Causes of Death
CONTACT
Assistant Director
Health and Vitals Section
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Brisbane
Telephone (07) 3222 6047
Facsimile (07) 3222 8007
DESCRIPTION
Statistics on causes of death registered in Australia are compiled from information provided by the Registrars of Births, Deaths and Marriages in each State and Territory. Causes of death statistics are used to inform the development and evaluation of public health policies and programs.
Statistics from these collections are published in Causes of Death, Australia (cat. no. 3303.0) which presents statistics on the number of deaths by State and Territory of Australia, sex, selected age groups, and cause of death classified to the World Health Organisation's International Classification of Diseases. Major causes of death are also shown as a proportion of total deaths and age-specific death rates. Selected details of perinatal deaths are also included.
SCOPE
All registered deaths.
DISSEMINATION
Publication
Causes of Death, Australia (cat. no. 3303.0)
Related Publications
Causes of Infant and Child Deaths, Australia, 1982 - 1996 (cat. no. 4398.0)
Deaths, Australia (cat. no. 3302.0)
Deaths due to Diseases and Cancers of the Respiratory System, Australia, 1979 - 1994 (cat. no. 3314.0)
Firearms Deaths, Australia, 1980 - 1995 (cat. no. 4397.0)
Suicides, Australia, 1982 - 1992 (cat. no. 3309.0)
Women's Health, 1994 (cat. no. 4365.0).
Data Service
Customised unpublished data are available in a variety of formats.
Data Details
Data are available for each registered death.
Demographic and family information of the deceased
Age (including infants under one week)
Sex (including infants under one week)
Marital status
Country of birth
Duration of residence (if not born in Australia)
Indigenous status (for States and Territories where coverage is deemed to be adequate)
Causes of death
Date of death
Number of issue
Post-mortem indicator
Drowning indicator
Certifier of cause of death
Other selected topics
Occupation for those aged 15 years and over
GEOGRAPHIC COVERAGE
Australia, States and Territories.
FREQUENCY OF COLLECTION
Annual.
METHOD OF COLLECTION
Administrative by-product.
HISTORICAL DATA
ABS has published causes of death data from 1907. Up to and including 1996, the ABS produced statistics where each death was assigned to a single underlying cause. From 1997 onwards, all causes and conditions reported on each death certificate have been coded (multi-cause coding) resulting in the production of enhanced mortality data. However, a consequence of the automated coding system used to facilitate multi-cause coding has been a break in the underlying cause of death time series for some causes of death.
Print Page
Print All