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released: 5 Apr 2006 author: Magnus P & Sadkowsky K media release

'Mortality over the twentieth century in Australia' is a comprehensive analysis of the causes of death from 1907 to 2000. Although it is well known that life expectancy for Australians increased over the last century, analyses presented in this report show how the changes in the causes of death help to explain why we are living longer. This report describes patterns and trends in mortality over the century, highlighting the great successes but also some areas where improvements are still clearly needed.

ISSN 1039-3609; ISBN 978 1 74024 555 5; Cat. no. PHE 73; 232pp.; OUT OF PRINT

Full publication

Publication table of contents

  • Preliminary material (203K PDF)
    • Title page and verso
    • Contents
    • List of tables
    • List of figures
    • List of boxes
    • Preface
    • Acknowledgments
    • Abbreviations
    • Symbols
    • Summary of findings
      • Success stories
      • Areas of concern
      • General findings
  • Sections
    1. Introduction (219K PDF)
      • Mortality over the twentieth century
      • Why take a century-long view?
      • Mortality data and their uses
      • How mortality data are collected and compiled
      • How this report presents the data
      • The challenge of changing classification
      • The world wars and mortality statistics
      • Indigenous mortality
      • Other mortality information
    2. Life expectancy
      • Life expectancy at specific ages
      • The changing rate of change
      • Sex differences
      • Population age distribution
    3. All-cause mortality
      • Trends in all-cause mortality
      • Contribution to total deaths by age group
    4. Broad causes of mortality (314K PDF)
      • The changing contribution to overall mortality
      • Trends and patterns of broad causes of mortality
    5. Specific causes of mortality (359K PDF)
      • Introduction
      • Contribution of specific causes to total deaths
      • Trends in major specific causes across the century
      • Diarrhoea, for ages 0-4 years
      • Septicaemia
      • Tuberculosis
      • Lung cancer, from 1945
      • Colorectal cancer, from 1922
      • Female breast cancer
      • Prostate cancer, from 1922
      • Stomach cancer, from 1922
      • Cancers of the cervix and uterus, from 1920 (287K PDF)
      • Cerebrovascular disease
      • Ischaemic heart disease, from 1950
      • Senility
      • Conditions originating in the perinatal period and congenital conditions, for ages 0-4 years
      • Motor vehicle accident deaths, from 1924
      • Suicide, for ages 15 years or over
      • SIDS, for age under 1 year
      • HIV/AIDS
      • Meningococcal infection
      • Viral hepatitis
      • Diabetes
    6. Trends within age groups: total mortality and main causes (470K PDF)
      • Infancy and early childhood, 0-4 years
      • Childhood, 5-14 years
      • Young adults, 15-24 years
      • Parent age, 25-44 years
      • Middle age, 45-64 years
      • Retirement age, 65-84 years
      • Old age, 85 years or over
  • End matter
    • Appendixes (176K PDF)
    • Appendix A: Collection and classification of mortality data
      • A.1 Deaths data
      • A.2 Collection of mortality data
      • A.3 Classification of diseases
      • A.4 The International Classification of Diseases
      • A.5 ICD item mapping and comparability
      • A.6 ICD codes used for broad and specific conditions
    • Appendix B: Tables (216K PDF)
    • Appendix C: The Standard Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (181K PDF)
    • Glossary
    • References

Recommended citation

Magnus P & Sadkowsky K 2006. Mortality over the twentieth century in Australia: trends and patterns in major causes of death. Mortality surveillance series no. 4. Cat. no. PHE 73. Canberra: AIHW.