Overview of injury deaths
This section provides an overview of injury deaths in 2016–17, and trends to 2016–17. For trends analysis, counts for 2014–15 to 2016–17 are subject to revision, but there are relatively small differences between unrevised and revised counts for most major external cause groups for deaths registered in 2012 and after (see Appendix C).
What is the profile of injury deaths in 2016–17?
Injury was recorded as a cause of 13,144 deaths in 2016–17 in Australia, which is 8.2% of all deaths (Table 2.1). Rates for males were almost twice as high as for females.
Table 2.1: Key indicators for injury deaths, by sex, 2016–17
Indicator | Males | Females | Persons |
---|---|---|---|
Number |
7,935 |
5,209 | 13,144 |
Crude rate (deaths per 100,000 population) |
65.6 |
42.4 | 53.9 |
Age-standardised rate (deaths per 100,000 population) |
64.0 |
32.4 | 47.8 |
Source: AIHW NMD.
Age and sex
The majority of deaths occurred at ages 65 and over—at 43% for males, and 68% for females. Fewer than 2% of injury deaths were at ages younger than 15 (Table 2.2).
Table 2.2: Injury deaths, by age and sex, 2016–17
Age group |
Males | Females | Persons | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
0–4 |
65 | 0.8 | 38 | 0.7 | 103 | 0.8 |
5–14 |
68 | 0.9 | 28 | 0.5 | 96 | 0.7 |
15–24 |
641 | 8.1 | 187 | 3.6 | 828 | 6.3 |
25–44 |
1,993 | 25.1 | 629 | 12.1 | 2,622 | 19.9 |
45–64 |
1,745 | 22.0 | 760 | 14.6 | 2,505 | 19.1 |
65+ |
3,423 | 43.1 | 3,567 | 68.5 | 6,990 | 53.2 |
Total |
7,935 | 100.0 | 5,209 | 100.0 | 13,144 | 100.0 |
Source: AIHW NMD.
State or territory of usual residence
Residents of the Northern Territory had the highest age-standardised injury mortality rate (81.7 deaths per 100,000 population), which was 1.7 times the national rate (Table 2.3).
Apart from New South Wales and Victoria, all jurisdictions recorded rates over the national rate. Residents of Victoria recorded the lowest rate, at 42.3 deaths per 100,000 population.
Table 2.3: Injury deaths, by state/territory of usual residence, 2016–17
Indicator |
State/territory of usual residence | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NSW | VIC | QLD | WA | SA | TAS | ACT | NT | |
Number |
4,094 |
3,063 | 2,718 | 1,497 | 1,048 | 357 | 206 | 161 |
% |
31.1 |
23.3 | 20.7 | 11.4 | 8.0 | 2.7 | 1.6 | 1.2 |
Age-standardised rate |
45.1 |
42.3 | 52.1 | 56.0 | 49.1 | 57.7 | 50.4 | 81.7 |
Source: AIHW NMD.
Remoteness of usual residence
Age-standardised rates of injury death rose with increasing remoteness (Table 2.4). The rate for residents of Very remote areas (87.0 deaths per 100,000 population) was just over twice as high as the rate for residents of Major cities (42.8 deaths per 100,000 population).
Table 2.4: Injury deaths, by remoteness of usual residence, 2016–17
Indicators |
Remoteness of usual residence(b) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Major cities | Inner regional | Outer regional | Remote | Very remote | |
Number(a) |
8,339 |
2,964 | 1,396 | 186 | 145 |
% |
63.4 |
22.6 | 10.6 | 1.4 | 1.1 |
Age-standardised rate |
42.8 |
57.6 | 60.8 | 65.8 | 87.0 |
Notes:
- Excludes 113 deaths where remoteness was not available.
- Derived using the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) classification.
Source: AIHW NMD.
Socioeconomic area
The age-standardised rate of injury death rose steadily with increasing socioeconomic disadvantage, although rates for people living in the 2 lowest socioeconomic areas were similar (Table 2.5).
The rate for people living in the 2 lowest socioeconomic areas (53.7 and 54.7 deaths per 100,000 population) was more than 1.4 times as high as the rate for people living in the highest socioeconomic areas (37.8 deaths per 100,000 population).
Table 2.5: Injury deaths, by socioeconomic area, 2016–17
Indicator |
Socioeconomic area | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1—lowest | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5—highest | |
Number |
2,959 |
3,131 | 2,658 | 2,217 | 2,064 |
% |
22.5 |
23.8 | 20.2 | 16.9 | 15.7 |
Age-standardised rate |
53.7 |
54.7 | 49.2 | 42.1 | 37.8 |
Note: Excludes 115 deaths where socioeconomic area was not reported.
Source: AIHW NMD.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
The age-standardised injury death rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was 2.3 times the rate for non-Indigenous Australians (Table 2.6).
Table 2.6: Key indicators for injury deaths, by Indigenous status and sex, 2016–17
Indicator |
Indigenous |
Non-Indigenous | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Males | Females | Persons | Males | Females | Persons | |
Number |
332 |
155 | 487 | 5,376 | 3,484 | 8,860 |
Age-standardised rate (deaths per 100,000 population) |
141.8 |
72.4 | 106.2 | 62.9 | 31.3 | 46.7 |
Rate ratio(a) |
2.3 |
2.3 | 2.3 | . . | . . | . . |
Rate difference(b) |
78.9 |
41.1 | 59.5 | . . | . . | . . |
Notes:
- Rate ratios are standardised rates for Indigenous males, females, and persons, divided by standardised rates for non-Indigenous males, females, and persons.
- Rate differences are standardised rates for Indigenous males, females, and persons, minus standardised rates for non-Indigenous males, females, and persons.
Note: Includes data for New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, and the Northern Territory (see Box 1.2).
Source: AIHW NMD.
Proportions of injury deaths in each age group differed considerably between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians (Table 2.7).
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 25–44, 43% and 37% of injury deaths occurred for men and women, respectively, compared with 24% and 12% for non-Indigenous Australian men and women.
Conversely, the proportions of injury deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women aged 65 and over were much lower than for non-Indigenous Australians.
Table 2.7: Injury deaths, by Indigenous status, age, and sex, 2016–17
Indigenous | Non-Indigenous | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Number | % | Number | % | |
Males | ||||
0-4 |
10 |
3.0 | 37 | 0.7 |
5-14 | 6 | 1.8 | 50 | 0.9 |
15–24 |
70 | 21.1 | 418 | 7.8 |
25–44 |
141 |
45.2 | 1,281 | 23.8 |
45–64 |
73 |
22.0 | 1,220 | 22.7 |
65+ |
32 | 9.6 | 2,370 | 44.1 |
Total |
332 | 100.0 | 5,376 | 100.0 |
Females | ||||
0–4 |
5 |
3.2 |
27 |
0.8 |
5–14 | 30 | 1.9 | 20 | 0.6 |
15–24 | 29 | 18.7 | 114 | 3.3 |
25–44 | 57 | 36.8 | 408 | 11.7 |
45–64 | 32 | 20.6 | 504 | 14.5 |
65+ | 29 | 18.7 | 2,411 | 69.2 |
Total | 155 | 100.0 | 3,484 | 100.0 |
Note: Includes data for New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, and the Northern Territory (see Box 1.2).
Source: AIHW NMD.