Australia’s leading cause of death on the brink of change

Ischaemic heart disease was still the nation’s leading cause of death in 2023, but was closely followed by dementia-related deaths, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Lauren Moran, ABS head of mortality statistics, said: “We’ve seen a drop in heart disease mortality and a rise in dementia deaths over time associated with both improvements in medical treatment and health care, and an ageing population. This is changing our leading causes of death. 

“The latest data shows that there are now less than 250 deaths separating the top two leading causes. Heart diseases were the cause of 9.2 per cent of deaths, while dementia, which includes Alzheimer’s disease, accounted for 9.1 per cent of deaths in 2023. 

“Dementia has been the leading cause of death for women since 2016, making up 12.2 per cent of female deaths and 6.4 per cent of male deaths in 2023. Women have longer life expectancies than men and as such are more likely to live to an age when they have a heightened risk of developing dementia. 

“Dementia is also the leading cause of death in South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and, for the first time, New South Wales."

The latest year’s data saw mortality rates stabilise overall. The mortality rate was 5.13 deaths per 1,000 people, down from 5.48 in 2022. 

Deaths from COVID-19 almost halved, dropping from 9,862 in 2022 to 5,001 in 2023, while numbers and rates of death fell for most other leading causes. 

“Despite these drops, virus-related deaths and mortality rates from all causes were still higher than in the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, when we saw record low mortality rates,” Ms Moran said. 

Alcohol continued to be a significant burden on mortality, with 1,667 deaths in 2023. This meant an alcohol-related death rate of 5.6 per 100,000 people, down from 6.2 in 2022, but similar to that recorded in 2021. Between 2018 and 2022, the alcohol related death rate rose steadily from 4.7 to 6.2.

There were 3,214 people who died by suicide in 2023 (a rate of 12.1 per 100,000 people), with men making up around three quarters of those deaths. 

The median age at death for people who died by suicide was 45.5, which means suicide was the leading cause of premature death in 2023. 

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