Deaths due to or with dementia among First Nations people
- The mortality statistics presented here are derived from the National Mortality Database and, unless otherwise specified, refer to cases where a death was due to dementia, also known as the ‘underlying cause of death’.
- Death statistics are aggregated over several years because of the small number of deaths due to dementia among First Nations people in any given year.
- Refer to the Technical notes for further information on deaths data and the codes used to classify dementia in the National Mortality Database.
- Dementia-related death data for First Nations Australians includes all Australian jurisdictions when presented at the national level, by remoteness area, and by Indigenous regions. However, the rate of deaths cannot be separately presented for Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory in state breakdowns as these jurisdictions are considered to have inadequate levels of Indigenous status identification in mortality data.
- Deaths for specific subtypes of dementia are indicative only, due to the known limitations in the accuracy of dementia coding on death certificates and the low number of dementia deaths among First Nations people for particular types of dementia.
- Refer to the Technical notes for further information on deaths data, such as known issues with under-identification of First Nations people.
In 2025, the AIHW began a project which explores First Nations identification among people with dementia in linked data. The aim of this work is to better support analysis of service use and health outcomes for First Nations Australians living with dementia (AIHW 2024). Work on the underlying data to improve classification of dementia deaths for First Nations people is also required. Refer to Deaths due to dementia for more information on the work being done to improve classification of dementia deaths.
Deaths due to dementia among First Nations people
In 2021–2023, about 510 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people died due to dementia (about 320 women and 190 men) (Table S12.1). During this period, dementia was the fifth leading cause of death among First Nations people aged 65 and over (480 deaths, after coronary heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes and lung cancer), accounting for 7% of all deaths among First Nations people aged 65 and over (Table S12.2).
To assess trends in deaths due to dementia over the past 10 years, the number of deaths due to dementia for 2014–2018 were compared with 2019–2023. The number of deaths due to dementia among First Nations people increased from about 470 deaths in 2014–2018 to almost 760 deaths in 2019–2023 (Figure 12.1; Table S12.3).
In 2019–2023, most deaths due to dementia among First Nations men and women occurred among those aged 85 and over. With an ageing First Nations population, it is expected that the number of deaths due to dementia will continue to rise in the future.
Figure 12.1: Deaths due to dementia among First Nations people by age and sex during 2014–2018 and 2019–2023
The bar chart shows that for both women and men, there was a larger increase in deaths due to dementia in the most recent 5-year period in the older age groups.
Notes:
- This analysis is based on the underlying cause of death and not on associated cause of death.
- Data are reported for all 8 jurisdictions combined.
- Small numbers have been suppressed.
The majority of deaths among First Nations people due to dementia in 2022–2023 were recorded as due to Unspecified dementia (210 or 59% of deaths due to dementia), followed by Alzheimer’s disease (almost 24%) and Vascular dementia (12%) (Table S12.4). These dementia types were also the most common types recorded overall among Australians who died due to dementia in 2023 (see the Deaths due to dementia).
Geographic variation and Indigenous Regions
After accounting for population differences in different geographic areas in Australia, there are notable geographic variations in deaths due to dementia in 2021–2023 (Figure 12.2). Rates of deaths due to dementia among First Nations people varied by people’s usual residence:
- by state, the rate of deaths ranged from 15 per 100,000 First Nations people in New South Wales to 32 per 100,000 First Nations people in the Northern Territory
- by remoteness, the rate of deaths ranged from 16 per 100,000 First Nations people in Major cities, Inner and Outer regional areas to 24 per 100,000 First Nations people in Remote and Very remote areas (Table S12.5)
- by Indigenous Region, the rate of deaths ranged from 12.4 deaths per 100,000 First Nations people in Townsville - Mackay to 70.5 deaths per 100,000 First Nations people in Alice Springs (Table S12.6).
Indigenous Regions are geographical areas based on former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission boundaries. There are 59 Indigenous Regions across Australia. Analysing data by Indigenous Region can be helpful given they can include larger First Nations population numbers than other geographic boundaries.
Figure 12.2: Deaths due to dementia among First Nations people: number and rate by geographic area in 2021–2023
The bar chart shows that the Northern Territory had the highest rate of deaths among other state and territories, and that remote and very remote also had the highest rate of deaths among remoteness areas.
Notes:
- This analysis is based on the underlying cause of death and not on associated causes of death.
- State/Territory and overall crude and age-standardised rates are reported for 5 jurisdictions – New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. These jurisdictions are considered to have adequate levels of First Nations identification in mortality data. The number of deaths is reported for all jurisdictions.
- The number of deaths by remoteness when summed may not equal the total for Australia as there are some deaths where the remoteness area is unknown.
- Data by remoteness area is based on data for all 8 jurisdictions, as population data (denominator used to compute rates) by remoteness are not available by state/territories breakdown.
Dying due to or with dementia
The discussion about dementia deaths among First Nations people has so far been restricted to deaths due to dementia, that is, where dementia was recorded as the underlying cause of death. Other causes that significantly contributed to the death are recorded as an associated cause of death. Given that people with dementia often have other health conditions and there can only be one underlying cause of death recorded, it is important to also account for all other cases where First Nations people died with dementia (where dementia was recorded as an associated cause of death).
In 2021–2023, nearly 1,200 First Nations people died due to or with dementia – 510 of these people had dementia as an underlying cause of death (Table 12.7).
Table 12.2: Deaths due to or with dementia among First Nations people in 2021–2023: number and percentage by age
This table shows that the proportion of deaths due to and with dementia among First Nations people are fairly similar across all age groups.
Notes:
- Deaths due to dementia refers to cases when dementia was recorded as the underlying cause of death. Deaths due to or with dementia refers to cases where dementia was recorded as the underlying and/or an associated cause of death.
- Data are reported for all 8 jurisdictions combined.
- Small numbers have been suppressed.
Where dementia was an associated cause of death, common underlying causes of death among First Nations people included: diabetes, coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease (Table S12.8). These conditions were also common underlying causes of death among the Australian population where dementia was an associated cause of death. Diabetes was the leading underlying cause of death for First Nations people where dementia was as an associated cause of death, whilst it was the fifth leading cause of death for the Australian population (Table S3.8).
AIHW (2024) National Dementia Data Improvement Plan 2023-2024, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 28 April 2025.
Waller M, Buckley RF, Masters CL, Nona FR, Eades SJ and Dobson AJ (2021) Deaths with dementia in Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians: a nationwide study, Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 81(4):1589–1599, doi:10.3233/JAD-201175.