Notes on the data: Aboriginal premature mortality by sex

Deaths of Aboriginal males aged 0 to 54, 0 to 64, 0 to 74 years, 2016 to 2020

Policy context:

Around 1,600 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males living in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia or the Northern Territory die each year, resulting in over 37,000 years of life lost due to premature death (death under 75 years of age)[1]. Chronic disease is responsible for a major part of the life expectancy gap; and accounts for some two thirds of the premature deaths among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians [2].

The median age at death in the period from 2016 to 2020 for Aboriginal males ranged from 54.0 years for those living in the Northern Territory to 61.0 years for those living in New South Wales [1]. These levels were, substantially lower than those for all non-Indigenous males, which ranged from 70.0 years (Northern Territory) to 80.0 years (South Australia). More than four in five (82.6%) deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males occurred before 75 years of age over the years 2016 to 2020, over twice (2.09 times) the proportion for non-Indigenous males, of 39.5%: details here.

References

PHIDU (www.phidu.torrens.edu.au), based on Cause of Death Unit Record Files supplied by the Australian Coordinating Registry and the Victorian Department of Justice, on behalf of the Registries of Births, Deaths and Marriages and the National Coronial Information System; 2016 to 2020.
Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet. Overview of Australian Indigenous health status, 2014. [Internet] 2014. [cited 2015 May 7]. Available from: http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/health-facts/overviews

Notes:

Deaths data

For deaths data released since 2007, the ABS has applied a staged approach to the coding of cause of death which affects the number of records available for release at any date. In general, the latest year’s data is preliminary, the second latest is revised and the data for the remaining years is final. For further information about the ABS revisions process see the following and related sites: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/3303.0Explanatory+Notes12012.

However, data published here are from the following releases: 2016 and 2017, final; 2018, revised; and 2019 and 2020, preliminary.

Data quality

Almost all deaths in Australia are registered. However, Indigenous status is not always recorded, or recorded correctly. The incompleteness of Indigenous identification (referred to as completeness of coverage) means that the number of deaths registered as Indigenous is an underestimate of the actual number of deaths which occur in the Indigenous population. It should also be noted that completeness of coverage is likely to vary between geographical areas.

While there is incomplete coverage of Indigenous deaths in all state and territory registration systems, some jurisdictions have been assessed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) as having a sufficient level of coverage to enable statistics on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mortality to be produced. Those jurisdictions are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Geography: Data available by Indigenous Area, Primary Health Network, Quintile of socioeconomic outcomes (based on IRSEO) and Remoteness Area

Numerator: Deaths of Aboriginal males aged 0 to 54 years, 0 to 64 and 0 to 74 years

Denominator: Male Aboriginal population aged 0 to 54 years, 0 to 64 and 0 to 74 years

Detail of analysis: Average annual indirectly age-standardised rate per 100,000 Aboriginal male population (aged 0 to 54, 0 to 64 and 0 to 74 years); and/or indirectly age-standardised ratio, based on the Australian standard

Source: Data compiled by PHIDU from deaths data based on the 2016 to 2020 Cause of Death Unit Record Files supplied by the Australian Coordinating Registry and the Victorian Department of Justice, on behalf of the Registries of Births, Deaths and Marriages and the National Coronial Information System. The population is the proportional estimated resident population (erp), developed by PHIDU, 2016 to 2020 average: click here for more details.