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YEAR OF OCCURRENCE

Overview

Information contained in the preceding chapters of this publication refer to deaths registered during the 2012 calendar year. In this chapter, death statistics are based on a year of occurrence, that is, the year in which the death actually occurred, rather than the year it was registered. The presentation of year of occurrence data in this publication facilitates international comparisons.

There are a proportion of deaths that occur in a given calendar year which are not registered until subsequent years. The international standard for publishing on a year of occurrence basis is to include deaths registered within the relevant occurrence year, and deaths for that same occurrence year which are registered the year immediately following. For example, deaths occurring in 2011 that have been registered in both 2011 and 2012 are presented below.

Analysis of deaths in Australia has shown that the number of deaths registered after the second year is not significant; that is, there is a very small number of deaths registered after the second year of death.

Year of occurrence data allow for seasonal analysis, and data are not distorted by the effects of late registrations or changes in time lags in processing registrations. In those countries where registration systems are complete and timely, there is not a significant difference between the number of deaths derived on a year of registration basis and those on a year of occurrence basis.

For Australia, approximately 95% of deaths registered in a particular year occurred in that year. However, variations can occur in certain subsets of the population and for particular causes of death. For instance, while 95.0% of the total 146,623 deaths that were registered in 2011 occurred in the same year, only 87.4% of the 2,561 deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and 91.3% of 9,219 deaths due to External causes registered in 2011 occurred in that year. More detailed data for specific causes or population groups are available from the ABS on request.


Comparison of Year of Occurrence and Year of Registration data for 2011

The following table shows the number of deaths occurring in 2011 which were registered in 2011 and 2012. Of the deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people which occurred in 2011 (and were registered in either 2011 or 2012), 12.6% were registered late, (i.e. they were registered in 2012). This compared with 5.0% for the total population.

A late registration is defined as a death which is registered after the end of the year in which the death occurred. For example, a death which occurred in 2011, but registered in 2012 or later is classified as a late registration.

8.1 SELECTED CAUSES: 2011 Year of Occurrence(a)(b)
	Registered in 2011	Registered in 2012	Total as at 2012	Late Registrations
Cause of death and ICD-10 code	no.	no.	no.	%
ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLE(c)
All Causes	2 238	323	2 561	12.6
ALL PERSONS(d)
All Causes(e)	139 356	7 267	146 623	5.0
Certain infectious and parasitic diseases (A00-B99)	2 286	108	2 394	4.5
Neoplasms (C00-D48)	41 711	1 935	43 646	4.4
Diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs and certain disorders involving the immune mechanism (D50-D89)	447	22	469	4.7
Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases (E00-E90)	5 768	291	6 059	4.8
Mental and behavioural disorders (F00-F99)	7 298	348	7 646	4.6
Diseases of the nervous system (G00-G99)	6 452	313	6 765	4.6
Diseases of the circulatory system (I00-I99)	43 313	2 095	45 408	4.6
Diseases of the respiratory system (J00-J99)	11 901	526	12 427	4.2
Diseases of the digestive system (K00-K93)	4 940	295	5 235	5.6
Diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue (L00-L99)	422	16	438	3.7
Diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue (M00-M99)	1 121	55	1 176	4.7
Diseases of the genitourinary system (N00-N99)	3 301	194	3 495	5.6
Certain conditions originating in the perinatal period (P00-P96)	534	57	591	9.6
Congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities (Q00-Q99)	513	43	556	7.7
Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified (R00-R99)	906	161	1 067	15.1
External causes of morbidity and mortality (V01-Y98)	8 413	806	9 219	8.7
(a) All causes of death data from 2006 onward are subject to a revisions process - once data for a reference year are 'final', they are no longer revised. Affected data in this table are 2011 (revised) and 2012 (preliminary). See Explanatory Notes 29-33 and Technical Notes, Causes of Death Revisions, 2006 in Causes of Death, Australia, 2010 and Causes of Death Revisions, 2010 and 2011 in this publication.
(b) See Explanatory Notes 81-99 for further information on specific issues relating to 2012 data.
(c) See Explanatory Notes 68-76 for further information on interpreting data relating to deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
(d) Includes total deaths for Australia.
(e) Includes deaths due to Diseases of the eye and adnexa (H00-H59), Diseases of the ear and mastoid processes (H60-H95) and Pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium (O00-O99).