The way Australians are living and dying has changed considerably over recent decades.
Awareness of these changing patterns allows for a better understanding of the population’s health and for improved consideration of individual health and lifestyle choices.
How many Australians die each year?
In 2019 there were 169,301 registered deaths in Australia, an increase of 6.8% (10,808) from 2018.
52.2% of deaths were male (88,346) and 47.8% were female (80,955).
What are the leading causes of death in Australia?
In 2019:
The leading cause of death was coronary heart disease accounting for 10.8% of all deaths (18,244). Dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, was the 2nd leading cause of death accounting for 8.9% of all deaths (15,016).
Cerebrovascular diseases, such as stroke, were the 3rd leading cause of all deaths accounting for 5.8% (9,891 deaths).
Cancer of the trachea, bronchus and lung was the 4th leading cause of all deaths accounting for 5.2% (8,821 deaths).
Chronic lower respiratory diseases including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchitis, emphysema and asthma rounded out the top five leading causes accounting for 4.9% of all deaths (8,372).
Influenza and pneumonia were the 9th leading cause of all deaths (4,124) in 2019, a 33% increase from 2018.
Suicide was the 13th leading cause of death, with the lowest median age at death at 43.9.
Changes in standardised death rate (SDR)
From 2010 to 2019 the standardised death rate (SDR) for:
coronary heart disease decreased by 34.6%
dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease increased by 27.2%
cerebrovascular diseases, such as stroke decreased by 31.5%
cancer of the trachea, bronchus and lung decreased by 15.8%
chronic lower respiratory diseases increased by 5.3%
suicides increased by 15.2%
Coronary heart disease
Coronary heart disease has been the leading cause of all deaths for over half a century. It reached its peak in 1968 when it was responsible for almost one-third of all deaths, and has been declining since.
Life expectancy continues to improve for most Australians while the life expectancy gap between men and women continues to narrow. But where does Australia rank compared to the rest of the world for life expectancy?
Australia is the deadliest location in the world when it comes to fatalities directly associated with shark attacks. In 2020, Australia recorded 22 unprovoked shark encounters — more than 38% of the worldwide total.
Home to some of the world's most dangerous shark species, Australia is one of the deadliest countries when it comes to human/shark incidents. In this article, we explore the number and outcome of shark/human incidents that occurred in Australia in 2022, to date.
