Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people enjoy long and healthy lives.

Close the Gap in life expectancy within a generation, by 2031.

Leading causes of death (infant mortality, child mortality, and five-yearly age groups)

There are three measures for this indicator.

Measure 1 is the infant mortality rate (for persons aged less than one year), by the leading causes of death and total, defined as:

Numerator — number of deaths for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged less than one year, by ICD-10 cause groups

Denominator — number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander live births

and is presented as a rate per 1000 live births.

Measure 2 is the child mortality rate (for persons aged 1 to 14 years), by the leading causes of death and total, defined as:

Numerator — number of deaths for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 1 to 14 years, by ICD-10 cause groups

Denominator — number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 1-14 years

and is presented as a rate per 100,000 population.

Measure 3 is the mortality rate, for persons aged 15 years or over, by the leading causes of death and total, by age group (five-year age groups for ages 15-74 years, and 75 years or over), defined as:

Numerator — number of deaths for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, by age group, by ICD-10 cause groups

Denominator — number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, by age group

and is presented as a rate per 100,000 population.

National Agreement on Closing the Gap July 2020

15 June 2023

Driver

For all measures, a decreasing rate is desirable.

Numerator (all measures)

Name: ABS Causes of Death Collection

Frequency: Annual

Documentation (links): https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/causes-death/causes-death-australia/

Denominator (measure 1)

Name: Births Australia

Frequency: Annual

Documentation: https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/births-australia

Denominator (measures 2 and 3)

Name: Estimates and projections for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians

Frequency: Annual (data revised on a five-yearly basis)

Documentation: https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples/estimates-and-projections-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-australians

Provider name: Australian Bureau of Statistics 

Provider area: Health and Vitals (numerator); Demography (denominators) 

2014-2018 (five year aggregate) 

2017-2021 (five year aggregate)

Infants (Children under 1 year) by the leading causes of death (and total) and all cause total, by years (five years combined) by selected states and territories (and total, by Indigenous status

Children 1-14 years by the leading causes of death (and total) and all cause total, by years (five years combined), by selected states and territories (and total), by Indigenous status

People aged 15 years or over by age group (5-year age groups and 75 years or over), by the leading causes of death (and total) and all cause total, by years (five years combined), by selected states and territories (and total), by Indigenous status

Measure 1: Numerator divided by Denominator multiplied by 1000. Rates use the total of the five years for numerator and total of five years for denominator.

Measures 2 and 3: Numerator divided by Denominator multiplied by 100 000. Rates use the total of the five years for numerator and total of five years for denominator.

Data are provided for non-overlapping time periods, other than for the latest reporting period.

Counting rules

Numerator (all measures)

Aggregate number of deaths, over the five year time period.

Reporting is only for those jurisdictions which have adequate levels of Indigenous identification (NSW, Queensland, WA, SA and the NT from 1998).

Excludes deaths where Indigenous status was not stated.

From 2016, deaths with not stated age have not been prorated and are excluded from analysis.

Data are presented for the underlying cause of death according to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines the underlying cause of death as the disease or injury that initiated the train of morbid events leading directly to death.

Data are provided for the ‘leading causes of death’ based on the WHO recommended tabulation of leading causes, For further information see: https://www.abs.gov.au/methodologies/causes-death-australia-methodology/2021#mortality-tabulations-and-methodologies

Where possible, the leading causes of death are presented as the top five cause groups listed from highest to lowest Indigenous rate, for each age group, for the most recent period (5 years combined).

A top six is presented if there are equal number of deaths for the causes listed as the fifth leading cause of death.

Less than top 5 causes may be listed if there are only a small number of deaths against some of the causes.

The leading causes of death need to be re-assessed each reporting period. If a change is identified, data may need to be backcast to the baseline year for the most recent set of leading causes to ensure a consistent time series.

Denominator (measure 1)

• Total number of live births, over the five year time period.

Denominator (measures 2 and 3)

• The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population is calculated from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population estimates and projections at 30 June (series B) for each of the five years in the reference period combined.
• The non-Indigenous population is calculated by subtracting the 30 June Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population from the 30 June total population.

Data are presented in five year groupings due to volatility of the small numbers involved.

From 2014, cells with small values have been randomly adjusted to protect confidentiality. Some totals will not equal the sum of their components. Cells with a zero value have not been adjusted.

Mortality rates based on a small numbers of deaths may volatile between reference periods. Age-specific death rates based on a very low death count have not been published, and appear as 'np'. Age-specific death rates based on a number of deaths below 10 should be treated with caution.

Mortality rates by Indigenous status are produced for NSW, Queensland, WA, SA and the NT only. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mortality rates are not produced for Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT due to the small number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths reported in these jurisdictions.

Caution is required when interpreting trends in mortality rates, because of changes in Indigenous identification across data collection and over time, and variation across geographies and socioeconomic groups. Although most deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are registered, it is likely that some are not accurately identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Therefore, these data are likely to underestimate the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mortality rates.

Additional disaggregations required for future reporting:

• All States and territories and Australian total (currently data only available for total of NSW, Qld, WA, SA and the NT)
• Remoteness areas
• Socioeconomic status of the locality
• Gender.