DEATH RATES STEADY

Australia

Despite the ageing of the population over the last 20 years, death rates have declined overall. In 1988 the crude death rate was 7.3 deaths per 1,000 population, decreasing to a low of 6.4 deaths per 1,000 population in 2005. Since then, the crude death rate has risen slightly, to 6.7 deaths per 1,000 population in 2008. Given the ageing of Australia's population, the overall decline in the crude death rate indicates a considerable decline in age-specific death rates over the period.

Taking into account the effect of changes in the age structure of Australia's population over time, the standardised death rate (SDR) has shown consistent decreases over the past 20 years. In 1998 the SDR was 9.0 deaths per 1,000 standard population, decreasing to a low of 6.0 deaths per 1,000 standard population in 2005 (an overall decrease of 33%). Since then, the SDR has remained at 6.0 deaths per 1,000 standard population, indicating that the long-term trend in declining mortality rates in Australia has slowed. Mortality data for subsequent years will indicate whether this trend has halted. Standardised death rates are calculated using the 2001 total population of Australia as the standard population (see Glossary for more information).

While male mortality rates remain higher than female mortality rates, in the last 20 years the difference has narrowed. In 1988, males had an SDR of 11.6 deaths per 1,000 standard population, 4.5 deaths higher than the female SDR of 7.1 deaths per 1,000 standard population. By 2008, the male SDR had decreased to 7.3 deaths per 1,000 standard population, 2.3 deaths higher than the female rate of 5.0 deaths per 1,000 standard population.


States and territories

Over the past 20 years all states and territories have experienced overall declines in SDRs, with the Northern Territory experiencing the largest absolute decline (from 12.7 deaths per 1,000 standard population in 1988 to 9.2 in 2008) and the Australian Capital Territory experiencing the smallest absolute decline (from 8.2 to 5.8 over the same period).

However, similar to the SDR for Australia overall, in recent years the declining trend in state/territory SDRs appears to have slowed, with small increases in SDRs being recorded in New South Wales, Queensland, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory in 2008.

The Northern Territory's SDR of 9.2 deaths per 1,000 standard population remained much higher than the other states and territories, while Tasmania recorded the second highest SDR (6.9). The lowest SDRs were recorded in Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory, both with 5.8 deaths per 1,000 standard population.

In 2008, the Northern Territory recorded the highest SDRs for both males and females, of 10.6 and 7.7 deaths per 1,000 standard population respectively. The lowest SDR for males was recorded in the Australian Capital Territory (6.8), while Western Australia recorded the lowest SDR for females (4.8).

Male SDRs were higher than female SDRs in all states and territories in 2008. The difference was greatest in the Northern Territory where the male SDR (10.6 deaths per 1,000 standard population) was 2.8 deaths higher than the female SDR (7.7 deaths per 1,000 standard population). The Australian Capital Territory recorded the smallest difference, with the male SDR (6.8) being 1.8 deaths higher than the female SDR (5.0).

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