Notes on the data: Median age at death

Median age at death - males/ females/ persons, 2017 to 2021

Policy context: The median age at death is an indicator of premature mortality. It is the age at which exactly half the deaths registered in a given time period were deaths of people above that age and half were deaths below that age. Over the years 2017 to 2021, the median age at death was 78.0 years for males and 84.0 years for females [1]. The range in median age for males is from 65.0 years in the Northern Territory to 79.0 years in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia; for females it is from 66.0 years in the Northern Territory to 85.0 years in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia [1].

Variations in the median age at death at the small geographical level are impacted by many factors including socioeconomic disadvantage, as influenced by unemployment, education, housing and income. In addition, events like road traffic accidents among young people living in an area lower the median age, and the location in an area of residential aged care facilities raises the median age.

Reference

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; 2017 to 2021

Notes: For detailed data files released since 2007, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (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 are preliminary, the second latest are revised and the data for the earlier years are final. In this way, the majority of records are released earlier than would be the case than were no data released until files had been returned from Coroners’ offices. For further information about the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revisions process see the following and related sites: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/3303.0Explanatory+Notes12012.

Data published here are from the following releases: 2017, final; 2018, revised; and 2019, 2020, and 2021 preliminary.

The ages, as presented, have been rounded to the nearest 0.5 of a year – i.e., are presented as xx.5 or xx.0 years.

Geography: Data available by Population Health Area, Local Government Area, Primary Health Network, Quintile of socioeconomic disadvantage of area and Quintiles within PHNs, and Remoteness Area

Numerator: Median age at death - males/ females/ persons

Denominator: ..

Detail of analysis: Median age at death (years)

Source: Data compiled by PHIDU from deaths data based on the 2017 to 2021 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.