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

Hospital based services contributed to 78% of total injury-related spending Over the 5-year period, an annual average of 86 Indigenous Australians died as the result of transport crashes Injuries accounted for an estimated $8.9 billion of spending in 2015–16 An annual average of 60 Indigenous Australians died due to unintentional poisoning by pharmaceuticals Per person injury spending was $397 for Indigenous Australians and $292 for non-Indigenous Australians Between 2011–12 and 2015–16, 2,145 Indigenous Australians died because of an injury—an annual average of 429 deaths Over time, suicide rates for Indigenous females rose by an annual average of 6% Around 41% ($3.7 billion) of injury expenditure was attributed to Falls Injury spending in younger age groups was higher for males, while spending in older age groups was higher for females Over the 5-year period, an average of 141 Indigenous Australians per year died as the result of suicide

Latest reports

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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