Health Statistics
Health statistics are an invaluable tool for measuring the health of Australians and targeting prevention and treatment resources accordingly. In this article, we compare Australia's mortality rating from 2019 to 2020.
Health statistics are extremely important in understanding the health of Australians and identifying key health issues that impact the population.
This data helps to inform health professionals of the most prevalent diseases within the population as well as allocate resources for both the prevention and treatment of these conditions. Currently, the most up-to-date health data and statistics available are up until 2020.
Using this data provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, this article will present and compare the mortality rate for Australia between 2019 and 2020.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia registered and received a total of 169, 301 deaths in 2019. The median age of death for this year was 81.7 years. The top five leading causes of death contributed to just over one-third of the total deaths recorded.
In 2019, the top five leading causes of death for Australians were:
In 2020, there was a total of 161,300 recorded deaths in Australia, approximately a 4.5% decrease from 2019. The median age of death within the Australian population for this year was 81.7 years, which was no change from 2019. Like 2019, the top five leading causes of death contributed to over one-third of the total deaths that year, and all five leading causes of death in 2020 were identical to 2019. In 2020, the top five leading causes of death were:
Between 2019 and 2020, the same five conditions were the leading causes of death in Australia. Following the same trend as the overall population deaths, the total number of deaths for each of the top five leading causes in Australia has slightly decreased between 2019 and 2020.
Another key difference between 2019 and 2020 is the discovery of COVID-19. In 2020, COVID-19 was a worldwide pandemic that significantly impacted health systems around the world. COVID-19 was recorded as the cause of death for 898 deaths in 2020, coming in as the 38th leading cause of death.
In 2019, 88,346 males made up the total number of deaths in Australia. The top five leading causes of death for Australian men in 2019 were:
The number of male deaths in 2020 decreased by approximately 4%, with 84,588 deaths recorded. In 2020, the top five leading causes of death for Australian males were:
Similar to the trend within the whole population of Australia, the total number of deaths for each of the five leading causes of death dropped between 2019 and 2020. It can also be seen that in 2020, the number of deaths caused by cancer of the trachea, bronchus, and lungs increased by approximately 11.1%, becoming the third leading cause of death among men. In contrast to this, the total deaths among males caused by cerebrovascular disease decreased by almost 30%, dropping it to the fourth leading cause of death.
It is important to note that the sixth leading cause of death among Australian men in both 2019 and 2020 was prostate cancer. There was a slight decrease from 2019 of 1.2%, with a total of 3,568 Australian male deaths caused by prostate cancer in 2020.
In 2019, the ABS reported a total of 80,955 females made up the total number of deaths within Australia. The top five leading causes of death for Australian women in 2019 were:
The total number of deaths among Australian women in 2020 decreased by approximately 6.6% with total recorded deaths of 76,712. The top five leading causes of death were:
Unlike the whole population and Australian men, Australian females are most susceptible to Dementia and Alzheimer’s as the leading cause of death instead of Ischaemic Heart Diseases. There was also an increase in the number of deaths caused by cancer of the trachea, bronchus, and lungs in 2020, moving this to be the fourth leading cause of death for Australian women in 2020. The other top four leading causes of death displayed a slight decrease in the number of deaths caused between 2019 and 2020.
Another significant cause of death amongst Australian females is breast cancer, which contributed to 3,230 deaths in 2019. This number decreased by approximately 3.8% in 2020, where 3,110 deaths were recorded because of breast cancer and was classified as the sixth leading cause of death among Australian women.
According to the ABS, there was a total of 3,435 deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people recorded and registered in Australia in 2019. The median age of death for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island population was 60.9 years.
The top five leading causes of death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people in 2019 were:
In 2020, there was a total of 3,611 deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people recorded in Australia which is a 5.1% increase from 2019. The top five leading causes of death were:
Unlike the trends within the general population of Australia, only one of the leading causes of death among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people saw a decrease in recorded deaths. In contrast to this, chronic lower respiratory disease reported the same total in both 2019 and 2020. Diabetes saw a 3% increase, Cancer of the trachea, bronchus, and lungs saw a 2% increase and Intentional self-harm, including suicide saw a 1.1% increase in the total number of deaths.
Age-standardised death rates are the average of age-specific mortality rates per 100,000 people. In 2019, the age-standardised death rates for the top five leading causes of death among Australians were:
In 2020, all five leading causes of death also saw a decreased in the age-standardised death rates:
Within this time, there has been a decrease in the rates of Ischaemic Heart Disease, Chronic lower respiratory disease, and Cancer in the trachea, bronchus, and lungs. The ABS has reported there has been a stabilisation in the rate of death due to dementia however it is evident that the gap between dementia and Ischaemic Heart Diseases is gradually narrowing.
Overall, the data shows that there is a slow but gradual decline in both the number of total deaths occurring each year as well as the number of deaths caused by the top five leading causes.
However, it is concerning to see the increase in recorded deaths amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people, and this is a subgroup of the population that the government will look to target with health interventions to help reverse this trend.
With the final data and statistics for 2021 still being confirmed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and other departments, there could be a significant change in the leading causes of death as well as the overall number of deaths with the impact of COVID-19.
Originally published at
https://www.australiawidefirstaid.com.au/resources/leading-causes-of-death
as part of the Australia Wide First Aid Articles Library