Overview

Injury is a major contributor to mortality, morbidity and permanent disability in Australia.

Most injuries requiring hospitalisation are the result of falls and transport accidents, while most deaths from injuries occur as a result of falls and suicide. 

More reports and statistics on injury can be found under Hospitals and Life expectancy & deaths.

Latest findings

The rate of injury deaths declined between 1999–00 and 2004–05 and remained relatively steady thereafter There were 13,144 injury-related deaths in 2016–17, corresponding to a rate of 48 deaths per 100,000 population The associations between SES and injury mortality vary by age, by sex and by external cause of injury The 2 main causes of injury deaths in 2016–17 were unintentional falls (38%) and suicide (23%) Rates of injury death increased with socioeconomic disadvantage The link between SES and injury mortality was strongest for deaths involving transport, poisoning and male suicides Rates of injury death rose with remoteness of place of usual residence Over time, rates of injury deaths increased for the most disadvantaged socioeconomic group by 1.1% per year In general, rates of injury deaths were higher among people from the most disadvantaged socioeconomic group

Latest reports

See all reports

Highlights

The number of hospitalisationsdue to injury has steadily increased each year over the past decade and now exceeds 460,000
Malesaccount for nearly 60% of all hospitalisations due to injury, and a similar proportion of all injury deaths
Most hospitalisationsdue to injury occur in the 65+ age group for females, while for males, the majority occur in the 25–44 age group
Indigenous Australiansare twice as likely as other Australians to be seriously injured, and also twice as likely to die of an injury
40%of injuries requiring hospitalisation are due to falls, and transport accidents account for around 13%
12,000deaths a year are due to injury—8% of all deaths
Femalesare more likely to be hospitalised for injuries due to intentional self-harm than males; males are more likely to die as a result of suicide
Where you livecan affect your chances of serious injury or death from injury, with highest rates of injury among people in remote areas