Summary

Injury is an Australia's health topic

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Introduction Key facts What are the leading causes of injury? Injury types Severity Variation in injuries by population groups Key data gaps and data improvement activities Where do I go for more information?

Injuries are a major cause of morbidity, permanent disability, and mortality affecting the quality of life of individuals and families across Australia (AIHW 2008).

Injuries are the leading cause of death for people aged 1–44.

In 2023–24:

  • males were more likely to present to an emergency department (ED), be hospitalised or die from injuries than females 
  • young children aged 0–4 had the highest rates of ED presentations due to injury of any age group
  • people aged 65 and over were most likely to be hospitalised or die from an injury.

Data presented in this report are sourced from the National Non-admitted Patient Emergency Department Care Database (NNAPEDCD), the National Hospital Morbidity Database (NHMD) and the National Mortality Database (NMD).

Key facts

An overview of some key facts, using the latest available data is provided below.

ED presentations

Admitted patient care (Hospitals)

Impacts of injury

What are the leading causes of injury?

Falls are the leading cause of injury hospitalisations and deaths in Australia.

The age-standardised rate (ASR) of fall injury hospitalisations has increased over the past decade, from 747 to 769 per 100,000 population between 2014–15 and 2023–24.

For more information on falls, see Injury in Australia: Falls.

After falls:

  • the leading cause of injury hospitalisations in 2023–24 was contact with objects (such as knives, tools and machines) (ASR of 300 per 100,000 population)
  • the leading cause of injury deaths in 2022–23 was suicide (ASR of 12 per 100,000 population).

The leading causes of injury hospitalisations and deaths vary by age and sex (Figure 1).

In 2023–24, the leading causes of injury hospitalisations were:

  • contact with objects for males aged between 15 and 44 (28,111 hospitalisations)
  • intentional self-harm for females aged between 15 and 24 (5,177 hospitalisations).

In 2022–23, the leading causes of injury deaths were:

  • falls for people aged 65 and over (6,378 deaths); 95% of all deaths from falls occurred in this age group
  • suicide for people aged between 15 and 64 (2,630 deaths, 81% of all deaths from suicide)
  • transport related injuries among people aged 0–14 (52 deaths, 3.6% of all transport deaths).

Figure 1: Leading causes of injury hospitalisation (2023–24) and death (2022–23), by age group and sex

Rank chart by sex and age group for hospitalisations and age group only for deaths. Falls were the leading cause of hospitalisation and death for the ‘All ages’ category.

Rank chart by sex and age group for hospitalisations and age group only for deaths. Falls were the leading cause of hospitalisation and death for the ‘All ages’ category.

Notes

  1.  Data for age groups below 15 years of age are excluded for deaths due to small numbers.
  2.  ‘All ages’ includes hospitalisations or deaths where the age of the patient was not stated.
  3.  Person totals include hospitalisations where the sex of the patient was other, inadequately described or not stated.
  4. 'Other unintentional causes' covers unintentional injury hospitalisations and deaths not principally caused by any of the main causes presented above, or where there may not have been enough information to specify the cause. 

Sources: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database; AIHW National Mortality Database; ABS National, state and territory population.

Injury types

The most common injury types are fractures, open wounds and soft-tissue injuries (Figure 2). Fractures accounted for 400,048 ED presentations and 221,171 hospitalisations in 2023–24.

Injury types vary by age group. In 2023–24, older adults (65 and over) had the highest hospitalisation rates for:

  • fractures (1,953 per 100,000 population)
  • open wounds (641 per 100,000)
  • superficial injuries (402 per 100,000)
  • intracranial injuries (245 per 100,000).

People aged 65 and over were also more likely than other age groups to present to ED with blood vessel and internal organ-related injuries.

Young children (0–4 years) were more likely to be hospitalised for burns and injuries involving foreign objects (through orifice) than other age groups. In ED presentations they showed higher rates for multiple injury types including burns, dislocations, foreign object (through orifice) injuries, open wounds, and superficial injuries.

Figure 2: Number and crude rate of ED presentations, by type of injury and sex, 2018–19 to 2023–24

An interactive line graph showing the number and rate of ED presentations from 2018–19 to 2023–24, broken down by injury type and sex. Fracture was the most common injury type across all years.

An interactive line graph showing the number and rate of ED presentations from 2018–19 to 2023–24, broken down by injury type and sex. Fracture was the most common injury type across all years.

Notes

  1. 'Persons' counts include cases where sex is intersex, indeterminate or missing. Therefore, the sum of components 'Males' and 'Females' may not equal the 'Persons' counts.
  2. ED presentations are not reported by cause due to current data quality and poor capture of external cause data. See Injury in Australia technical notes for further detail.

Sources: AIHW National Non-admitted Patient Emergency Department Care Database; ABS National, state and territory population.

For more information, see Types of injury.

Severity

The severity or seriousness of an injury can be measured in several ways. Some of these include:

  • ED presentation metrics such as triage category
  • average length of stay in hospital measured in days
  • time in an intensive care unit or receipt of continuous ventilatory support
  • in-hospital deaths.

In 2023–24, the longest average hospital stays were for injuries caused by thermal sources and falls, with both averaging around 5 days (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Average length of stay in hospital by the top 5 injury causes, 2023–24

Bar chart showing the average length of stay by the top 5 injury causes. Thermal causes had the longest average length of stay at about 5 days.

Notes

  1. Average length of stay (ALOS) is the average number of days the group of patients stayed in hospital receiving treatment.

  2. Length of stay calculations include transfer hospitalisations. 

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

Variation in injuries by population groups

Injuries can happen to anyone, but some population groups are more at risk than others.

First Nations people

Among Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people, there were:

  • 149,811 ED presentations for injury in 2023–24

  • 35,775 injury hospitalisations in 2023–24

  • 646 injury deaths in 2022–23

Between 2018–19 and 2023–24, ED presentations for injury have fluctuated between 13,000 and 15,000 per 100,000 population, with an overall average annual increase of 2.4%. More recently, the rate rose by 12%, from 13,103 in 2021–2022 to 14,538 per 100,000 population in 2023–2024.

Figure 4: Rates of ED presentations for First Nations people, 2018–19 to 2023–24

Line graph showing an increase of crude rates for ED presentations for First Nations people from 2018–19 to 2023–24.

Note: Presentation rates are crude rates.

Source: AIHW National Non-admitted Patient Emergency Department Care Database; ABS Estimates and Projections, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians

In 2023–24, falls were the leading cause of injury-related hospitalisations among First Nations people across all age groups, except for those aged 15–44 (Figure 5).

  • Among females aged 15–44, assault was the most common cause of hospitalisation.
  • For males aged 15–24, the leading cause was contact with objects.

Figure 5: Leading causes of injury hospitalisation for First Nations people by age and sex, 2023-24

An interactive bar chart showing the number and rate of injury hospitalisations for First Nations people by age, sex and cause. Assault was the leading cause of injury hospitalisation for First Nations females aged 15–44

An interactive bar chart showing the number and rate of injury hospitalisations for First Nations people by age, sex and cause. Assault was the leading cause of injury hospitalisation for First Nations females aged 15–44

Notes

  1. Data for intentional self-harm are aggregated for 0–14-year-olds.
  2. ‘All ages’ includes hospitalisations where the age of the patient was not stated.
  3. Person totals include hospitalisations where the sex of the patient was other, inadequately described or not stated.

Sources: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database; ABS Estimates and Projections, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

For more information, see First Nations people.

Socioeconomic areas

Injuries are more common among people living in the most socioeconomically disadvantaged areas.

In 2023–24, compared to those in the least disadvantaged areas, individuals in the most disadvantaged areas were:

  • 1.6 times as likely to present to an ED for injury
  • 1.3 times as likely to be hospitalised for injury.

Falls were the leading cause of injury-related hospitalisations across all socioeconomic groups, with the ASR highest among the most disadvantaged group (Figure 6).

This group also had the highest ASR for transport injuries, and assault ranked as the 5th most common cause of injury hospitalisation.

Figure 6: Age-standardised rates of the 5 most common injury hospitalisations by socioeconomic area, 2023–24

Rank chart presenting rates and numbers of hospitalisations by socioeconomic area. Falls were the leading cause of hospitalisation across all areas.

Rank chart presenting rates and numbers of hospitalisations by socioeconomic area. Falls were the leading cause of hospitalisation across all areas.

Sources: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database; ABS National, state and territory population.

For more information, see Socioeconomic areas.

Remoteness areas

The ASR of ED presentations and hospitalisations for injury increased with increasing remoteness.

In 2023–24, falls were the most common cause of injury-related hospitalisations across all remoteness areas – except in Very remote areas where assault was the leading cause (Figure 7).

Figure 7: Age-standardised rates of the 5 most common injury hospitalisations by remoteness area, 2023–24

Rank chart presenting rates and numbers of hospitalisations by remoteness. Assault was the leading cause of hospitalisation in Very remote areas.

Rank chart presenting rates and numbers of hospitalisations by remoteness. Assault was the leading cause of hospitalisation in Very remote areas.

Sources: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database; ABS National, state and territory population.

For more information, see Remoteness.

Key data gaps and data improvement activities

Gaps and limitations

The data presented in this report do not capture all injuries in Australia, such as those managed in primary care or by urgent care clinics, due to data availability.

The National Non-admitted Patient Emergency Department Care Database (NNAPEDCD) does not include external cause of injury data. External cause and related data on the injury include details such as place of occurrence, mechanism of the injury, activity being undertaken at the time, intent and perpetrator are only available in the NHMD.

Injury reporting in Australia currently relies on administrative health data, which limits its ability to identify the total number of individuals injured or track their full care pathways. Without linked data sources, it cannot account for multiple injuries or presentations across different health services, particularly affecting insights into priority populations such as people with disabilities and aged care residents.

Data developments and opportunities

National Injury Surveillance for Actionable Research – Emergency Department project (NISAR-ED)

The AIHW is partnering with the University of New South Wales in a Medical Research Future Fund funded initiative to build a National Injury Surveillance system, better identifying the external causes, intent and location of injuries treated in Emergency Departments at Australian hospitals.

Transport crash and injury data developments

The AIHW is working with the Department of Infrastructure’s Office of Road Safety to investigate the feasibility of building a shared data asset of crash and injury data to support the National Road Safety Strategy (2021-2030) aims of reducing road trauma across Australia.

Primary health care data development

Nationally consistent primary health care data is a known information gap for effective population health monitoring, research, policy, and planning. The AIHW is working to fill this gap by developing processes for the governance, standardisation, collection, analysis and reporting of primary health care data within Australia. This work will ultimately form a National Primary Health Care Data Collection (NPHCDC). For more information, see Primary health care Data development.

Data linkage and integration

Data on the Australian health system are largely organised around occasions of service. Data linkage, also known as data integration, brings together information from more than one source. Matching disparate pieces of information can fill gaps in knowledge on not only specific diseases and the effectiveness and quality of health services and population groups but also across the health and welfare sectors.

The National Health Data Hub (NHDH) developed by the AIHW draws together core government administrative health, welfare, disability and aged care datasets. The NHDH is now an integral data resource in the Australian linked data landscape and contributes widely to an array of government programs.

The use of linked data will result in better information as to the nature, extent and consequences of injury, and its impact on the health system.

Where do I go for more information?

For more information on injury, see:

For more on this topic, see Injury.

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