Provisional Mortality Statistics

This is not the latest release View the latest release

Provisional deaths data for measuring changes in patterns of mortality

Reference period
Jan - Jun 2023
Released
22/09/2023

Key statistics

  • There were 15,843 deaths which occurred in June 2023. This is 7.6% less than in June 2022.

  • Between January and June 2023, there were 89,497 deaths. This is 4.3% less than in 2022.

  • COVID-19 caused 302 deaths in July, down from 568 in June.

This release of the Provisional Mortality Statistics report contains summary mortality statistics only. As previously advertised, detailed Provisional Mortality Statistics releases will change to every 2 months, with summary statistics being produced for the alternate months. 

Australian deaths by week

All-cause deaths

  • In 2023, there were 89,497 deaths that occurred by 30 June and were registered by 31 August. This is 10,289 deaths (13.0%) more than the baseline average, but 4,036 (4.3%) less than in 2022.
  • In June 2023 there were 15,843 deaths, 10.4% more than the baseline average but 7.6% less than in 2022.
  • 14,031 of the deaths occurring in June 2023 were doctor certified and 1,812 were coroner referred. 

Deaths are presented by counts only. Counts of death do not account for changes in population.

  1. Data is by occurrence.
  2. Data is provisional and subject to change.
  3. Weeks are defined as seven-day periods which start on a Monday as per the ISO week date system. Refer to 'Weekly comparisons' on the methodology page of this publication for more information regarding the data in this graph. Week 1 ended 9 Jan 2022 and 8 Jan 2023.
  4. The baseline includes deaths from 2017-19 and 2021.

Mortality by selected causes of death

Cause-specific mortality

The following analysis is based only on doctor certified deaths (i.e. coroner referred deaths are not included). Any changes in patterns of coroner referral could affect counts of doctor certified deaths. Some conditions have higher coroner referral rates (ischaemic heart disease, cerebrovascular diseases and to a lesser extent, respiratory diseases and diabetes) so counts for those conditions would be more likely to be affected by such changes.

COVID-19

  • In June 2023 there were 565 deaths due to COVID-19 that were certified by a doctor. This is 33.7% lower than the 852 deaths in June 2022 and 5.5% lower than the 598 deaths in May 2023.
  • There have been 2,742 deaths due to COVID-19 certified by a doctor between January and June 2023. This is 49.1% lower than the 5,389 deaths recorded in the same period in 2022.
  • As the pandemic has progressed the number of people dying 'with' COVID-19 has increased. In June 192 people died with COVID-19 as a contributing factor to their death (ie. COVID-19 was certified on the death certificate but it was not the underlying cause of death).

Other causes of death

  • Deaths due to dementia including Alzheimer's disease were 12.6% above the baseline average in June 2023, but 9.6% below June 2022. 
  • Deaths due to ischaemic heart disease were 11.2% below the baseline average in June 2023 and 13.8% lower than June 2022. 
  • Deaths due to cerebrovascular disease were 11.4% below than the baseline average in June 2023 and 12.3% lower than June 2022.  
Doctor certified deaths by cause, 2023, 2022, Baseline
   JuneYear to date - January - June
   20232022baseline average20232022baseline average
Cancer4,2144,2063,95225,27525,03423,525
Dementia1,5571,7221,3838,4438,8097,301
Respiratory diseases1,3061,4961,2776,5806,5836,307
 Chronic lower respiratory diseases7117416803,6323,6363,520
  Influenza and pneumonia2603902741,1831,2171,187
   Pneumonia1992382321,0351,0161,062
Ischaemic heart disease1,1711,3581,3186,5577,2987,000
Other cardiac conditions  9049508114,8324,8304,201
Cerebrovascular diseases7518568484,4214,6044,635
COVID-19565852na2,7425,389na
Diabetes4375044182,6192,7122,249

a. Only doctor certified deaths are included.
b. Data is by date of occurrence.
c. The baseline includes deaths from 2017-19 and 2021

COVID-19 mortality

Of the 613,089 death registrations received by the ABS (both doctor and coroner certified) in Australia during the pandemic period, 19,874 (3.2%) are of people who have died from or with COVID-19. Tabulations listed below include COVID-19 deaths by year of occurrence, state or territory of registry and by age.  

Deaths due to COVID-19 by year and month of occurrence (a)(b)(c)(d)(e)
Year of death occurrenceJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecTotal
20200023791231454731461681906
202121120013983164422602191,354
2022164510344257169298881408112844725445495010,278
202373822525641760756830272nananana3,185

a. Includes COVID-19 death registrations only. Numbers will differ to disease surveillance systems.
b. Includes all COVID-19 deaths (both doctor and coroner certified) that occurred and were registered by 31 August 2023.
c. All deaths due to COVID-19 in this report have been coded to ICD-10 code U07.1 COVID-19, virus identified; U07.2 COVID-19, virus not identified as the underlying cause of death; or U10.9 Multisystem inflammatory syndrome associated with COVID-19.
d. Data is provisional and subject to change.
e. Refer to the methodology for more information regarding the data in this table.

COVID-19 registered deaths by age and sex (a)(b)(c)(d)(e)
Age (years)MalesFemales
0-19139
20-291613
30-394328
40-499356
50-59275160
60-69702410
70-791,9191,070
80-893,3862,546
90+2,1792,805

a. Includes COVID-19 death registrations only. Numbers will differ to disease surveillance systems.
b. Includes all COVID-19 deaths (both doctor and coroner certified) that occurred and were registered by 31 August 2023.
c. Deaths due to COVID-19 in this report have an underlying cause of ICD-10 code U07.1 COVID-19, virus identified; U07.2 COVID-19, virus not identified as the underlying cause of death; or U10.9 Multisystem inflammatory syndrome associated with COVID-19.
d. Data is provisional and subject to change.
e. Refer to the methodology for more information regarding the data in this graph.

Number and proportion of COVID-19 deaths by state of registration (a)(b)(c)(d)(e)
 COVID-19 deaths (no.)Proportion of total COVID-19 deaths (%)
NSW5,60735.7
Vic5,22433.2
Qld2,27214.5
SA1,1007.0
WA9476.0
Tas3001.9
NT590.4
ACT2141.4
Aus15,723100.0

a. Includes COVID-19 death registrations only. Numbers will differ to disease surveillance systems.
b. Includes all COVID-19 deaths (both doctor and coroner certified) that occurred and were registered by 31 August 2023.
c. All deaths due to COVID-19 in this report have been coded to ICD-10 code U07.1 COVID-19, virus identified; U07.2 COVID-19, virus not identified as the underlying cause of death; or U10.9 Multisystem inflammatory syndrome associated with COVID-19.
d. Data is provisional and subject to change.
e. Refer to the methodology for more information regarding the data in this graph.

COVID-19 related deaths are where the deceased died with COVID-19 (and it was a significant factor), but it did not directly cause death. There have been 1,105 COVID-19 related deaths in 2023. In all months this year, the number of COVID-19 related deaths has been lower than in 2022. 

COVID-19 related deaths by year and month of occurrence (a)(b)(c)(d)(e)
Year of death occurrenceJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecTotal
20200001010520009
202100000011315192564
2022231208125216298282465446186971382812,973
20232251031221421861929144nananana1105

a. Includes COVID-19 death registrations only. Numbers will differ to disease surveillance systems.
b. Includes all COVID-19 deaths (both doctor and coroner certified) that occurred and were registered by 31 August 2023.
c. COVID-19 related deaths have an associated cause of either ICD-10 code U07.1 COVID-19, virus identified; U07.2 COVID-19, virus not identified; or U09 Post COVID-19 condition.
d. Data is provisional and subject to change.
e. Refer to the methodology for more information regarding the data in this graph.

Data downloads

Provisional Mortality Statistics, Jan - Jun 2023

Data files

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 3303.0.55.004

Back to top of the page