Injury in Australia

This chapter provides an overview of the main causes of injury hospitalisations (Figure 4) and deaths (Figure 5). Injuries have been categorised based on the first external cause of injury listed in each hospital and death record. ED presentations are not reported by cause due to the quality of the currently recorded information. Please refer to the technical notes for further details.

Ranked frequencies of injury hospitalisations and deaths by cause remained stable since the last financial year of reporting. 

In 2023–24, the leading causes of injury hospitalisations were (Figure 4):

1. falls (248,211 hospitalisations, an age-standardised rate (ASR) of 768.8 per 100,000 population)
2. contact with objects (80,705 hospitalisations, an ASR of 302.0 per 100,000 population)
3. transport (65,189 hospitalisations, an ASR of 242.5 per 100,000 population).

In 2022–23, the leading causes of injury deaths were (Figure 5):

1. falls (6,698 deaths, an ASR of 17.9 per 100,000 population)
2. suicide (3,236 deaths, an ASR of 12.0 per 100,000 population)
3. accidental poisoning (1,399 deaths, an ASR of 5.4 per 100,000 population).

Figure 4: Number and age-standardised rate of hospitalisations by cause of injury, Australia, 2023–24

Notes:

1. Numbers and age-standardised rates of hospitalisations are represented by ranked rows.
2. Age-standardised rates are per 100,000 population.

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

Figure 5: Number and age-standardised rate of injury deaths by cause of injury, Australia, 2022–23

Notes:

1. Numbers and age-standardised rates of deaths are represented by ranked rows.
2. Age-standardised rates are per 100,000 population.

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

For more detail, see Supplementary Data tables.