Deaths, Australia

This is not the latest release View the latest release

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

Cite
Print
Reference period
2022
Released
27/09/2023
View all releases

Key statistics

  • There were 190,939 registered deaths in 2022, an increase of 19,470 since 2021.
  • The standardised death rate increased to 5.5 deaths, from 5.1 in 2021.
  • Infant deaths decreased by 51 deaths to 958.
Summary statistics
201220212022
All deaths147,098171,469190,939
Infant deaths1,0311,009958
Standardised death rate5.55.15.5
Crude death rate6.56.77.3
Infant mortality rate3.33.33.2

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.

This publication presents statistics about deaths and mortality rates in the reference year 2022. Information about Causes of death in 2022 are available in Causes of Death, Australia.

National

Deaths registered

  • There were 190,939 deaths registered in 2022, an increase of 19,470 from 2021 (171,469).
  • There were more male deaths (99,924) than female deaths (91,015), resulting in a sex ratio of 109.8 male deaths for every 100 female deaths.

Age and sex distribution

  • In every age group spanning 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.
  1. Excludes deaths for which age was not stated.

Median age at death

Standardised death rate

The standardised death rate: 

  • increased to 5.5 deaths per 1,000 standard population, from 5.1 in 2021
  • was the same (5.5) as in 2012, with males showing a decrease of 0.2 over the ten-year period and females remaining the same (4.6).

Crude death rate

Age-specific death rate

States and territories

Deaths registered

  • All states and territories recorded an increase in death registrations in 2022. COVID-19-related deaths were the largest contributor to this increase.
  • Over three-quarters (78.1%) 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 territory2012 (no.)2021 (no.)2022 (no.)Change from 2021 to 2022 (no.)
New South Wales49,31456,52562,9806,455
Victoria35,76042,48647,9785,492
Queensland28,30033,85838,1604,302
South Australia13,17814,49415,455961
Western Australia13,33915,89117,2991,408
Tasmania4,4594,7695,142373
Northern Territory1,0381,2111,338127
Australian Capital Territory1,7062,2072,563356
Australia(a)147,098171,469190,93919,470
  1. Includes Other Territories. 

Deaths by state and territory of usual residence – 2022

This interactive map examines the number of deaths for the 2022 reference year, by State and territory of Usual residence of Australia, based on the boundaries released in the ASGS.

Median age at death

Standardised death rate

The standardised death rate was:

  • highest in the Northern Territory (7.6 deaths per 1,000 standard population), followed by Tasmania (5.8)
  • lowest in Western Australia (5.0).

Over the past ten years, standardised death rates:

  • Increased in Victoria (5.4 deaths from 5.2 in 2012) and the Australian Capital Territory (5.2 deaths from 5.0 in 2012), and remained the same in New South Wales (5.5)
  • Decreased in Tasmania (5.8 deaths from 6.6 in 2012), Western Australia (5.0 deaths from 5.4 in 2012), South Australia (5.4 deaths from 5.7 in 2012) and Queensland (5.6 deaths from 5.8 in 2012).
  1. Includes Other Territories.

Infants

Births registered by Indigenous status of the birth - 2022

Deaths registered

Infant deaths are defined as deaths of children aged less than one year.

  • There were 958 infant deaths registered (504 boys and 454 girls).
  • This was a 5.1% decrease compared with the number registered in 2021 (1,009).
  • Over the past ten years, the number of infant deaths decreased overall from 1,031 in 2012.

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
  • decreased from 2012 (3.3).

 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

Change to derivation of Indigenous status for deaths registered in NSW

In 2022, information from the cause of death process including the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) and coronial information was made available to the ABS by the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages as a secondary source for determining Indigenous status of the deceased. This brings the derivation in line with all other states and territories with the exception of Victoria. Use of this additional source has led to improved recording of Indigenous status. This change has introduced a break in time series in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander death statistics in NSW and Australia. Therefore caution should be used when making comparisons with previous years. For more information on this change and the impacts refer to Technical Note: The impact of using two sources for deriving the Indigenous status of deaths in NSW in 2022, in Causes of Death, Australia methodology.

Deaths registered

  • In 2022, there were 5,082 deaths registered where the person was identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, an increase of 1,001 deaths nationally from 2021.
  • All states and territories recorded increases.
  • New South Wales recorded the largest increase, 1,691 deaths compared with 1,206 in 2021, noting the change to derivation of Indigenous status.
  • Queensland recorded the next largest increase with 1,271 deaths, up from 1,101 in 2021.
Deaths by Indigenous status - 2022
State or territory of usual residenceAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (no.)Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (%)Non-Indigenous (no.)Non-Indigenous (%)Not stated (no.)Not stated (%)Total (no.)
NSW(a)1,6912.761,113971760.362,980
Vic.3370.747,08198.15601.247,978
Qld1,2713.336,81796.5720.238,160
SA2751.815,16398.1170.115,455
WA7334.216,46995.2970.617,299
Tas.1242.44,97996.8390.85,142
NT61746.171853.740.31,338
ACT291.12,52998.750.22,563
Aust.(b)5,0822.7184,88296.89750.5190,939
  1. The 2022 increase in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths is influenced by the use of information from the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) for the first time for deriving the indigenous status of deaths registered in New South Wales (refer to Causes of Death, Australia methodology for more detail).
  2. Includes Other Territories.

Age and sex distribution

Deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are more widely spread across younger age groups, whereas deaths of non-Indigenous people are concentrated in the older age groups. This reflects higher birth rates and lower life expectancy in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population compared with those in the non-Indigenous population.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people five state/territory data

Median ages, age-specific death rates, standardised death rates and infant mortality rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are presented for New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory only. These five jurisdictions have been included as they have sufficient levels of identification and sufficient numbers of deaths to support mortality analysis. The total therefore represents the total for these five jurisdictions only.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, summary statistics(a)
201220212022(b)
All deaths2,4693,6964,587
Infant deaths8190127
Standardised death rate(c)9.49.510.1
Crude death rate(c)3.94.75.1
Infant mortality rate(c)6.45.25.2
  1. Includes data for the five states and territories - New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. 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.
  2. The 2022 increase in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths is influenced by the use of information from the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) for the first time for deriving the indigenous status of deaths registered in New South Wales (refer to Causes of Death, Australia methodology for more detail).
  3. 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 people:

  • was 10.1 deaths per 1,000 standard population, up from 9.4 in 2012
  • for males increased to 11.2 from 11.0 ten years ago
  • for females increased to 9.1 from 8.2 over the same period
  • was highest in the Northern Territory at 13.4 and lowest in New South Wales at 8.8.

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 people 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 by year of registration

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths by year of occurrence

Data downloads

Notes

Download all (2.5 MB)

Data cubes

Data files

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

Post-release changes

31 October 2023: Additional data cube added - Table 1: Deaths, Country of Birth, Australia - 2022

28 September 2023: Additional data cubes added - Table 3: Deaths, Summary, Statistical Area Level 4, 2012 to 2022, Table 4: Deaths, Summary, Statistical Area Level 2, 2012 to 2022, Table 5: Deaths, Summary, Local Government Areas, 2012 to 2022, Table 6: Deaths, Summary, Remoteness Areas, 2012 to 2022 and Table 7: Deaths, Indigenous status, Summary, Remoteness Areas, Australia, 2012 to 2022.

Methodology

Deaths, Australia methodology, 2022

Media releases