Deaths, Australia

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Statistics about deaths and mortality rates for Australia, states and territories, and sub-state regions

Reference period

2020

Released

29/09/2021

View all releases

Key statistics

There were 161,300 registered deaths in 2020, a decrease of 8,001 since 2019
The standardised death rate decreased to 4.9 deaths, from 5.3 in 2019
Infant deaths decreased by 66 deaths to 943

Summary statistics
		2010	2019	2020(a)

All deaths	no.	143,473	169,301	161,300
Infant deaths	no.	1,229	1,009	943
Standardised death rate	rate	5.7	5.3	4.9
Crude death rate	rate	6.5	6.7	6.3
Infant mortality rate	rate	4.1	3.3	3.2

a. The number of deaths registered in 2020 (161,300) decreased by 8,001 compared to the 2019 registrations, but is similar to the average number of deaths recorded for 2015-2019 (161,252). All jurisdictions except the Australian Capital Territory recorded a decrease in death registrations in 2020. More information can be found in Methodology.

The standardised death rate (SDR) uses the age distribution of total persons in the Australian population at 30 June 2001 as the standard population. The SDR is expressed as deaths per 1,000 standard population.

The crude death rate is the number of deaths registered during the calendar year per 1,000 estimated resident population at 30 June.

The infant mortality rate is the number of deaths of children under one year of age in a specified period per 1,000 live births in the same period.

Births registered by Indigenous status of the birth(a)

Births registered by Indigenous status of the birth(a)
State or territory of usual residence	Sex	Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander	Non-Indigenous	Not stated	Total
NSW
	Males	3,950	44,954	29	48,933
	Females	3,738	42,748	40	46,526
	Persons	7,688	87,702	69	95,459
Vic.
	Males	899	36,274	525	37,698
	Females	821	34,470	554	35,845
	Persons	1,720	70,744	1,079	73,543
Qld
	Males	3,351	27,155	14	30,520
	Females	3,084	25,868	18	28,970
	Persons	6,435	53,023	32	59,490
SA
	Males	548	8,839	108	9,495
	Females	486	8,437	108	9,031
	Persons	1,034	17,276	216	18,526
WA
	Males	1,458	15,001	178	16,637
	Females	1,365	14,279	145	15,789
	Persons	2,823	29,280	323	32,426
Tas.
	Males	360	2,569	5	2,934
	Females	322	2,518	6	2,846
	Persons	682	5,087	11	5,780
NT
	Males	719	1,239	1	1,959
	Females	702	1,091	0	1,793
	Persons	1,421	2,330	4	3,752
ACT
	Males	105	2,641	6	2,752
	Females	104	2,509	3	2,616
	Persons	209	5,150	9	5,368
Aust.(b)
	Males	11,390	138,684	869	150,943
	Females	10,626	131,926	874	143,426
	Persons	22,016	270,610	1,743	294,369

National

Deaths registered

There were 161,300 deaths registered in 2020, a decrease of 8,001 from 2019 (169,301)
There were more male deaths (84,588) than female deaths (76,712), resulting in a sex ratio of 110.3 male deaths for every 100 female deaths
Over three quarters (77.5%) of deaths registered were to usual residents of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland combined.

Deaths registered, 1915 to 2020(a)
	Males	Females
1915	30,654	22,128
1916	31,018	23,179
1917	27,609	20,420
1918	28,585	21,664
1919	37,632	28,298
1920	32,053	24,236
1921	30,652	23,424
1922	29,245	22,066
1923	31,622	24,614
1924	31,103	23,877
1925	31,134	23,434
1926	32,387	24,565
1927	32,858	25,424
1928	33,145	26,233
1929	34,718	26,139
1930	31,148	24,183
1931	31,796	24,764
1932	31,860	24,897
1933	33,250	25,867
1934	34,571	27,658
1935	35,691	27,908
1936	35,651	28,281
1937	36,246	28,250
1938	37,046	29,405
1939	38,837	30,310
1940	38,608	29,776
1941	39,409	31,767
1942	41,587	33,604
1943	40,778	33,708
1944	37,820	31,776
1945	38,211	32,020
1946	41,283	33,378
1947	40,769	32,699
1948	42,655	34,184
1949	42,195	33,065
1950	43,720	34,467
1951	45,953	35,835
1952	45,851	35,746
1953	44,822	35,366
1954	45,787	36,018
1955	46,188	35,848
1956	48,192	37,896
1957	47,659	37,294
1958	47,050	36,673
1959	50,293	38,919
1960	49,629	38,835
1961	50,248	38,713
1962	52,378	40,785
1963	53,212	41,682
1964	56,246	44,348
1965	55,770	43,945
1966	57,795	46,134
1967	57,508	45,195
1968	61,061	48,486
1969	59,686	46,810
1970	62,828	50,220
1971	61,074	49,576
1972	61,116	48,644
1973	61,588	49,234
1974	64,299	51,534
1975	60,738	48,283
1976	62,527	50,135
1977	60,320	48,470
1978	60,281	48,144
1979	59,257	47,311
1980	60,518	48,177
1981	60,696	48,307
1982	63,295	51,476
1983	60,450	49,634
1984	59,987	49,927
1985	64,156	54,652
1986	62,210	52,771
1987	63,611	53,710
1988	65,082	54,784
1989	66,926	57,306
1990	64,660	55,402
1991	64,067	55,079
1992	66,115	57,545
1993	65,089	56,510
1994	67,464	59,228
1995	66,251	58,882
1996	68,206	60,513
1997	67,752	61,598
1998	67,073	60,129
1999	67,227	60,875
2000	66,817	61,474
2001	66,835	61,709
2002	68,885	64,822
2003	68,330	63,962
2004	68,395	64,113
2005	67,241	63,473
2006	68,556	65,183
2007	70,569	67,285
2008	73,548	70,398
2009	72,320	68,440
2010	73,484	69,989
2011	75,330	71,602
2012	74,794	72,304
2013	75,782	71,896
2014	78,341	75,239
2015	81,330	77,722
2016	81,867	76,637
2017	82,858	78,051
2018	82,320	76,173
2019	88,346	80,955
2020	84,588	76,712

Deaths registered, 1915 to 2020(a)

["","Males","Females"]

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Age and sex distribution

The distribution of deaths by age and sex reflects males dying at younger ages than females
From 0-84 years, there were more male deaths than there were female deaths
At age 85-89 years and onwards, more female deaths were recorded than male deaths

Age and sex distribution(a) - 2020
	Males	Females
0	518	425
1-4	79	82
5-9	55	31
10-14	78	61
15-19	329	147
20-24	549	181
25-29	660	259
30-34	751	370
35-39	940	520
40-44	1,164	648
45-49	1,807	1,089
50-54	2,444	1,531
55-59	3,677	2,217
60-64	5,033	3,157
65-69	6,518	4,084
70-74	9,424	6,099
75-79	10,870	7,618
80-84	12,692	10,721
85-89	13,063	13,777
90-94	10,065	14,556
95-99	3,446	7,608
100+	420	1,530

Age and sex distribution(a) - 2020

["","Males","Females"]

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a. Excludes deaths for which age was not stated

Median age at death

Standardised death rate

The standardised death rate:

decreased to 4.9 deaths per 1,000 standard population, from 5.3 in 2019
declined from 5.7 in 2010 to 4.9 in 2020, with both males and females showing a similar decline

Standardised death rates, 1980 to 2020(a)
	Males	Females
1980	13.4	7.9
1981	13.2	7.7
1982	13.4	8
1983	12.5	7.5
1984	12.1	7.3
1985	12.6	7.7
1986	11.7	7.2
1987	11.7	7.1
1988	11.6	7.1
1989	11.7	7.2
1990	10.9	6.8
1991	10.6	6.6
1992	10.6	6.7
1993	10.2	6.4
1994	10.4	6.5
1995	9.9	6.3
1996	9.9	6.2
1997	9.5	6.1
1998	9.2	5.8
1999	8.9	5.7
2000	8.6	5.6
2001	8.3	5.4
2002	8.3	5.5
2003	8.1	5.3
2004	7.9	5.2
2005	7.5	5
2006	7.4	5
2007	7.3	5
2008	7.4	5.1
2009	7	4.8
2010	6.9	4.7
2011	6.9	4.7
2012	6.6	4.6
2013	6.5	4.5
2014	6.5	4.6
2015	6.5	4.6
2016	6.4	4.5
2017	6.2	4.5
2018	6	4.3
2019	6.3	4.4
2020	5.8	4.1

Standardised death rates, 1980 to 2020(a)

["","Males","Females"]

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Crude death rate

Age-specific death rate

States and territories

Deaths registered

Over three quarters (77.5%) of deaths registered were to usual residents of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland combined.

Deaths registered by state and territory of usual residence
State or territory	2010 (no.)	2019 (no.)	2020 (no.)	2020 (%)
New South Wales	47,945	56,058	52,485	32.5
Victoria(a)	35,623	43,944	41,093	25.5
Queensland	27,289	32,473	31,367	19.4
South Australia	12,957	13,917	13,607	8.4
Western Australia	12,720	15,042	14,993	9.3
Tasmania	4,269	4,663	4,435	2.7
Northern Territory	981	1,142	1,141	0.7
Australian Capital Territory	1,679	2,033	2,162	1.3
Australia(b)	143,473	169,301	161,300	100

The number of deaths registered in 2020 (161,300) decreased by 8,001 compared to the 2019 registrations, but is similar to the average number of deaths recorded for 2015-2019 (161,252). All jurisdictions except the Australian Capital Territory recorded a decrease in death registrations in 2020. More information can be found in Methodology.
Includes Other Territories.

Median age at death

Standardised death rate

The standardised death rate was:

highest in the Northern Territory (6.7 deaths per 1,000 standard population), followed by Tasmania (5.5)
lowest in Western Australia (4.7)

Over the past ten years, standardised death rates:

declined in all states and territories
declined the most in the Northern Territory (1.5 deaths per 1,000 standard population), followed by Tasmania (1.1) and Queensland (1.0)

Standardised death rates by state and territory
	2010	2020
NSW	5.6	4.8
Vic.	5.6	4.8
Qld.	6.0	5.0
SA	5.9	5.1
WA	5.6	4.7
Tas.	6.6	5.5
NT	8.2	6.7
ACT	5.3	4.8
Aust.	5.7	4.9

Standardised death rates by state and territory

["","2010","2020"]

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Infants

Deaths registered

There were 943 infant deaths (deaths of children aged less than one year) registered (518 boys and 425 girls)
This was a 6.5% decrease compared with the number registered in 2019 (1,009)
Over the past ten years, the number of infant deaths has decreased overall (with some fluctuations) from 1,229 in 2010

Infant mortality rate

Australia has one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world.

The infant mortality rate was:

3.2 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, compared with 3.3 in 2019
4.1 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2010

Infant mortality rates, 1915 to 2020(a)
	Infant mortality rate
1915	67.5
1916	70.3
1917	55.9
1918	58.6
1919	69.2
1920	69.1
1921	65.7
1922	52.7
1923	60.5
1924	57.1
1925	53.4
1926	54.0
1927	54.5
1928	53.0
1929	51.1
1930	47.2
1931	42.1
1932	41.3
1933	39.5
1934	43.6
1935	39.8
1936	41.2
1937	38.1
1938	38.3
1939	38.2
1940	38.4
1941	39.7
1942	39.5
1943	36.3
1944	31.3
1945	29.4
1946	29.0
1947	28.5
1948	27.8
1949	25.3
1950	24.5
1951	25.2
1952	23.8
1953	23.3
1954	22.5
1955	22.0
1956	21.7
1957	21.4
1958	20.5
1959	21.5
1960	20.2
1961	19.5
1962	20.4
1963	19.5
1964	19.1
1965	18.5
1966	18.7
1967	18.3
1968	17.8
1969	17.9
1970	17.9
1971	17.3
1972	16.7
1973	16.5
1974	16.1
1975	14.3
1976	13.8
1977	12.5
1978	12.2
1979	11.4
1980	10.7
1981	10.0
1982	10.3
1983	9.6
1984	9.2
1985	9.9
1986	8.8
1987	8.7
1988	8.7
1989	8.0
1990	8.2
1991	7.1
1992	7.0
1993	6.1
1994	5.9
1995	5.7
1996	5.8
1997	5.3
1998	5.0
1999	5.7
2000	5.2
2001	5.3
2002	5.0
2003	4.8
2004	4.7
2005	4.9
2006	4.7
2007	4.1
2008	4.1
2009	4.2
2010	4.1
2011	3.8
2012	3.3
2013	3.6
2014	3.4
2015	3.2
2016	3.1
2017	3.3
2018	3.1
2019	3.3
2020	3.2

Infant mortality rates, 1915 to 2020(a)

["","Infant mortality rate"]

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[]

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a. Lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the number of birth registrations in Australia, with fewer births registered in 2020 compared to recent years. Births are used in the calculation of infant mortality rates, which are are presented per 1,000 live births.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

Deaths registered

There were 4,063 deaths registered where the deceased person was recorded as being Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, or both
Deaths increased by 276 from 2019
Victoria recorded the largest increase, 341 deaths from 254 in 2019, then Tasmania, 88 deaths from 68 in 2019

Deaths by Indigenous status
State or territory of usual residence	Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (no.)	Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (%)	Non-Indigenous (no.)	Non-Indigenous (%)	Not stated (no.)	Not stated (%)	Total (no.)
NSW	1,155	2.2	50,794	96.8	536	1.0	52,485
Vic.	341	0.8	40,268	98.0	484	1.2	41,093
Qld	1,097	3.5	30,223	96.4	47	0.1	31,367
SA	226	1.7	13,374	98.3	7	0.1	13,607
WA	626	4.2	14,300	95.4	67	0.4	14,993
Tas.	88	2.0	4,313	97.2	34	0.8	4,435
NT	507	44.4	634	55.6	0	0.0	1,141
ACT	21	1.0	2,132	98.6	9	0.4	2,162
Aust.(a)	4,063	2.5	156,042	96.7	1,195	0.7	161,300

Includes Other Territories.

Age and sex distribution

Deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are more widely spread across younger age groups, whereas deaths of non-Indigenous people are concentrated in the older age groups. This reflects a younger age profile for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population.

Age and sex distribution - 2020
	Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males (%)	Non-Indigenous males (%)	Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander females (%)	Non-Indigenous females (%)
0-4	1.8	0.33	1.4	0.29
5-9	0.17	0.03	0.02	0.02
10-14	0.3	0.04	0.2	0.03
15-19	1.18	0.18	0.52	0.08
20-24	1.72	0.3	0.66	0.1
25-29	1.72	0.37	0.84	0.14
30-34	1.92	0.43	1.43	0.2
35-39	2.56	0.53	1.48	0.29
40-44	2.81	0.66	1.92	0.36
45-49	3.84	1.04	2.51	0.62
50-54	4.65	1.43	3.67	0.88
55-59	5.19	2.19	3.84	1.31
60-64	5.29	3.05	4.36	1.89
65-69	5.69	3.99	4.87	2.47
70-74	5.49	5.83	4.87	3.76
75-79	4.09	6.81	3.79	4.75
80-84	2.83	8	3.45	6.74
85+	3.27	17.13	5.59	23.71

Age and sex distribution - 2020

["","Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males","Non-Indigenous males","Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander females","Non-Indigenous females"]

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples five state/territory data

Median ages, age-specific death rates, standardised death rates and infant mortality rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are included in this commentary for New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory only. These five jurisdictions have been included due to there being evidence of sufficient levels of identification and sufficient numbers of deaths to support mortality analysis. Total five state/territory combines data for these five jurisdictions.

Summary statistics(a)
		2010	2019	2020
All deaths	no.	2,600	3,435	3,611
Infant deaths	no.	120	113	103
Standardised death rate(b)	rate	9.7	9.2	9.4
Crude death rate(b)	rate	3.9	4.4	4.6
Infant mortality rate(b)	rate	7.0	5.8	5.4

Data for Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory (based on state or territory of usual residence) are excluded due to the small numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths.
These rates are based on three-year averages. They are calculated for each calendar year and then averaged.

Median age at death

Age-specific death rate

Standardised death rate

The standardised death rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples:

was 9.4 deaths per 1,000 standard population, lower than 9.7 deaths per 1,000 10 years ago
for males fell to 10.6 from 10.9 10 years ago
for females fell to 8.3 from 8.7 over the same period
was highest in the Northern Territory at 13.1 and lowest in New South Wales at 7.6

Infant mortality rate

Deaths by year of registration and year of occurrence

While the interval between the occurrence and registration of deaths is often longer for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples than for the non-Indigenous population, there is normally little difference between the number of deaths registered and the number that occurred in a given year. The number of deaths not registered in the year that they occurred are balanced by the number of deaths that occurred in the previous years but were subsequently registered. Data for the latest year will be underestimated if reported on a year of occurrence basis.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths, state or territory(a) of usual residence by year of registration

	NSW	Vic.	Qld(b)(c)	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.(d)
1,999	435	130	529	116	350	11	399	6	1,976
2,000	473	108	535	144	407	8	450	2	2,127
2,001	481	93	565	125	345	32	429	3	2,072
2,002	516	64	590	107	371	20	462	4	2,136
2,003	485	82	569	137	338	23	435	9	2,079
2,004	490	54	579	131	400	20	449	10	2,136
2,005	507	71	519	142	406	28	454	11	2,141
2,006	530	111	584	124	443	20	452	14	2,279
2,007	601	95	594	138	449	24	461	6	2,368
2,008	559	97	562	141	486	24	467	16	2,353
2,009	591	106	632	160	416	30	431	10	2,377
2,010	622	117	948	147	436	37	447	13	2,767
2,011	726	128	629	141	454	30	437	12	2,558
2,012	635	100	678	151	466	45	539	6	2,620
2,013	753	123	765	177	457	27	489	18	2,811
2,014	794	139	688	169	517	31	562	13	2,914
2,015	822	141	842	167	511	50	537	17	3,088
2,016	857	175	884	170	565	54	443	19	3,168
2,017	857	186	897	222	508	52	504	22	3,250
2,018	960	211	963	223	563	66	509	22	3,518
2,019	1,122	254	1,016	223	578	68	496	29	3,787
2,020	1,155	341	1,097	226	626	88	507	21	4,063

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths, state or territory(a) of usual residence by year of occurrence(b)

	NSW	Vic.	Qld(c)(d)	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.(e)
1,999	433	105	540	117	348	12	438	7	2,000
2,000	480	115	619	140	384	10	429	1	2,178
2,001	487	81	581	122	368	29	430	3	2,100
2,002	508	64	614	108	385	22	471	5	2,179
2,003	494	83	595	144	324	22	419	12	2,095
2,004	481	55	635	134	391	19	437	7	2,161
2,005	508	81	542	140	416	32	496	12	2,230
2,006	531	117	592	124	462	16	454	12	2,309
2,007	599	94	593	143	462	25	465	8	2,389
2,008	559	97	554	144	476	23	491	14	2,359
2,009	596	109	628	148	409	33	440	12	2,376
2,010	640	133	633	149	426	35	429	12	2,458
2,011	711	105	650	148	444	32	485	11	2,586
2,012	666	113	682	158	452	43	508	7	2,629
2,013	757	116	749	167	465	29	509	17	2,811
2,014	797	134	719	177	497	30	546	16	2,917
2,015	799	148	840	158	533	50	503	16	3,048
2,016	865	199	851	178	541	53	463	19	3,170
2,017	900	189	921	226	530	56	517	23	3,364
2,018	964	198	953	221	553	63	543	20	3,516
2,019	1,087	275	1,002	225	567	70	466	33	3,726
2,020	1,081	279	1,000	194	543	84	354	16	3,553

Data downloads

Table 1: Deaths, Country of birth, Australia - 2020

Data files

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Table 2: Median age at death, Year of occurrence, States and territories, 2010 to 2020

Data files

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Table 3: Deaths, Summary, Statistical Area Level 4 - 2012 to 2020

Data files

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Table 4: Deaths, Summary, Statistical Area Level 2 - 2012 to 2020

Data files

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Table 5: Deaths, Summary, Local Government Areas - 2012 to 2020

Data files

Download xlsx [230.69 KB]

Table 6: Deaths, Summary, Remoteness Areas - 2012 to 2020

Data files

Download xlsx [83.68 KB]

Table 7: Deaths, Indigenous status, Summary, Remoteness Areas, Australia - 2012 to 2020

Data files

Download xlsx [66.19 KB]

All data cubes

Data files

Download zip [2.17 MB]

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 3302.0.

Data Explorer datasets

Caution: Data in the Data Explorer is currently released after the 11:30am release on the ABS website. Please check the time period when using Data Explorer.

Deaths, Year of registration, Summary data, Sex, States, Territories and Australia

Deaths, Year of registration, Age at death, Age-specific death rates, Sex, States, Territories and Australia

Deaths, Year of registration, Age at death, Sex, Australia

Deaths, Year of occurrence, Age at death, Age-specific death rates, Sex, States, Territories and Australia

Deaths, Year of registration, Marital status, Age at death, Sex, Australia

Infant deaths and infant mortality rates, Year of registration, Age at death, Sex, States, Territories and Australia

Deaths, Year of registration, Indigenous status, Summary data, Sex, States, Territories and Australia

Deaths and infant deaths, Year and month of occurrence, Sex, States, Territories and Australia

Deaths, Year of registration, Indigenous status, Age at death, Sex, Five State/Territory

Infant deaths, Year of occurrence, Age at death, Sex, Australia

Methodology

Deaths, Australia methodology, 2020

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APA

Deaths, Australia

APA

Key statistics

Births registered by Indigenous status of the birth(a)

National

Deaths registered

Age and sex distribution

Median age at death

Standardised death rate

Crude death rate

Age-specific death rate

States and territories

Deaths registered

Median age at death

Standardised death rate

Infants

Deaths registered

Infant mortality rate

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

Deaths registered

Age and sex distribution

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples five state/territory data

Median age at death

Age-specific death rate

Standardised death rate

Infant mortality rate

Deaths by year of registration and year of occurrence

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths, state or territory(a) of usual residence by year of registration

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths, state or territory(a) of usual residence by year of occurrence(b)

Data downloads

Table 1: Deaths, Country of birth, Australia - 2020

Table 2: Median age at death, Year of occurrence, States and territories, 2010 to 2020

Table 3: Deaths, Summary, Statistical Area Level 4 - 2012 to 2020

Table 4: Deaths, Summary, Statistical Area Level 2 - 2012 to 2020

Table 5: Deaths, Summary, Local Government Areas - 2012 to 2020

Table 6: Deaths, Summary, Remoteness Areas - 2012 to 2020

Table 7: Deaths, Indigenous status, Summary, Remoteness Areas, Australia - 2012 to 2020

All data cubes

Previous catalogue number

Data Explorer datasets

Methodology

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