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
(deaths per 100,000 population)

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
(deaths per 100,000 population)

42.8

57.6 60.8 65.8 87.0

Notes:

  1. Excludes 113 deaths where remoteness was not available.
  2. 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
(deaths per 100,000 population)

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:

  1. Rate ratios are standardised rates for Indigenous males, females, and persons, divided by standardised rates for non-Indigenous males, females, and persons.
  2. 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.