When a person’s air supply is partly or fully blocked, they are at risk of injury and death from choking or suffocation. This can occur when breathing is disrupted by a physical blockage, such as an object in the windpipe, or when a person is trapped in a low oxygen environment.

Choking and suffocation are the twelfth ranked cause of injury hospitalisations in 2024–25 and the fifth ranked cause of injury deaths 2023–24.

Choking and suffocation injuries caused:

  • Hospitalisations 2024–25

    1,631 hospitalisations

    0.3% of all injury hospitalisations

    6.0 per 100,000 population

  • Deaths 2023–24

    1,418 deaths

    9.0% of all injury deaths

    5.3 per 100,000 population

Injuries were most common for:

  • Males (6.4 hospitalisations and 6.1 deaths per 100,000)

  • People aged 0–4 (20.0 hospitalisations per 100,000), and 65 and over (25.8 deaths per 100,000)

  • Injuries caused by:

    • a foreign body in respiratory tract (2.2 hospitalisations per 100,000)
    • inhalation and ingestion of other objects causing obstruction of respiratory tracts (4.2 deaths per 100,000)

Definitions

This article describes unintentional choking and suffocation injuries resulting in hospitalisation or death. Intentional injuries are included under Self-harm injuries and suicide or Assault and homicide.

External causes of injury are not currently able to be ascertained reliably from emergency department data. For more detail, please see the Injury in Australia technical notes.


For choking and suffocation injuries:

  • Hospitalisations 2024–25

    • just over half (53%) were males
    • the rate for males (6.4 per 100,000) was 1.2 times the rate for females (5.5 per 100,000)

  • Deaths 2023–24

    • almost 3 in 5 (57%) were males
    • the rate for males (6.1 per 100,000) was 1.4 times the rate for females (4.5 per 100,000)

  • Hospitalisations 2015–16 to 2024–25

    The rates of choking and suffocation injury hospitalisations has remained stable, at around 6 per 100,000 population each year

  • Deaths 2014–15 to 2023–24

    The mortality rates from choking and suffocation have remained stable, at around 5 per 100,000 each year


Common types of choking and suffocation injuries

  • 588 520 420 Foreign body Food Objects

    Hospitalisations 2024–25

    Most choking and suffocation injury hospitalisations were from:

    • obstructions of the respiratory tract caused by a foreign body
    • inhalation & ingestion of food
    • inhalation & ingestion of other objects
  • 1141 187 57 Objects Food Gastric contents

    Deaths 2023–24

    Most deaths were caused by :

    • inhalation & ingestion of other objects causing respiratory tract obstruction
    • inhalation & ingestion of food causing respiratory tract obstruction
    • inhalation of gastric contents

For more detail, see supplementary data tables H19 and D6

Common types of choking and suffocation injury hospitalisations by age and sex, 2024–25

All rates presented below are crude and per 100,000 population.

  • Inhalation and ingestion of food causing respiratory tract obstruction

    • 4.0% were males aged 0–4 (8.4 per 100,000)
    • 7.2% were males aged 65 and over (5.3 per 100,000)
    • 7.2% were females aged 0–4 (4.9 per 100,000)

  • Foreign body in respiratory tract

    • 5.9% were males aged 65 and over (4.4 per 100,000)
    • 6.6% were females aged 65 and over (4.3 per 100,000)
    • 5.5% were males aged 45–64 (2.9 per 100,000)

  • Inhalation & ingestion of objects causing respiratory tract obstruction

    • 3.1% were females aged 0–4 (6.8 per 100,000)
    • 5.5% were females aged 65 and over (3.5 per 100,000)
    • 4.7% were males aged 65 and over (3.5 per 100,000)

For more detail, see supplementary data tables H19 and D6.

Severity

In 2024–25, choking and suffocation injuries were severe, when compared to all hospitalisations for injury.

The average length of stay in hospital for choking and suffocation injuries was lower than the average for all hospitalised injuries, while the percentages of cases that included time in an ICU and cases that involved continuous ventilatory support were both higher. The rate of in-hospital deaths was much higher (Table 1).

Table 1: Severity of choking and suffocation injury hospitalisations, 2024–25
Severity measureChoking and suffocation injuriesAll injuries
Average number of days in hospital1.93.4
Percentage of cases with time in an ICU (%)4.22.0
Percentage of cases with time on a ventilator (%)3.41.1
In-hospital deaths (per 1,000 cases)25.15.7

Notes

  1. Average number of days in hospital (length of stay) includes admissions that are transfers from one hospital to another or transfers from one admitted care type to another within the same hospital, except where care involves rehabilitation procedures.
  2. 'All injuries' includes choking and suffocation injuries.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

For more detail, see supplementary data table H14.

First Nations people

  • Choking and suffocation injury hospitalisations 2024–25

    • 67 hospitalisations were First Nations people (ASR of 7.0 per 100,000)
    • rates were highest among people aged 0–4 (22.4 per 100,000)

  • Choking and suffocation injury deaths 2023–24

    • 42 deaths were First Nations people (ASR of 4.1 per 100,000)
    • 3 out of 4 deaths occured in males (31 deaths)

Note: For information on calculations of rates among First Nations people, please see the technical notes.

For more detail, see supplementary data table H5.

State and territory

  • 11.0 7.2 7.2 NT SA Qld

    Hospitalisations 2023–24

    The highest rates of choking and suffocation injury hospitalisations in 2023–24 were in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland

  • 10.7 4.9 4.6 ACT Tas Qld

    Deaths 2022–23

    The highest rates of death by choking and suffocation in 2022–23 were in the Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania and Queensland

Note: Rates are age-standardised and presented per 100,000 population.

Remoteness

In 2023–24, for injury hospitalisations due to choking and suffocation:

  • People living in Remote areas had the highest rate of hospitalisation (6.7 per 100,000)

  • People living in Inner regional areas had the lowest rate of hospitalisation (4.5 per 100,000)

Notes

  1. Rates for Very remote areas are not reported due to small numbers.
  2. Rates are age-standardised and presented per 100,000 population.

Socioeconomic areas

  • 5.8 5.1 Most disad. Least disad.

    Hospitalisations 2023–24

    Choking and suffocation injury hospitalisations were 1.1 times as likely in the most disadvantaged areas when compared to the least disadvantaged areas

  • 4.8 3.7 Most disad. Least disad.

    Deaths 2022–23

    Choking and suffocation deaths were 1.3 times as likely to occur in the most disadvantaged areas when compared to the least disadvantaged areas

Note: Rates are age-standardised and presented per 100,000 population.

Data details

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