Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people enjoy long and healthy lives.

Close the Gap in life expectancy within a generation, by 2031.

Leading causes of death (infant mortality, child mortality, and five‑yearly age groups)

There are three measures for this indicator.

Measure 1 is the infant mortality rate (for persons aged less than one year), by the leading causes of death and total, defined as:

Numerator – number of deaths for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged less than one year, by ICD-10 cause groups

Denominator – number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander live births

and is presented as a rate per 1,000 live births.

Measure 2 is the child mortality rate (for persons aged one to 14 years), by the leading causes of death and total, defined as:

Numerator – number of deaths for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 1–14 years, by ICD‑10 cause groups

Denominator – number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 1–14 years

and is presented as a rate per 100,000 population.

Measure 3 is the mortality rate, for persons aged 15 years or over, by the leading causes of death and total, by age group (five‑year age groups for ages 15–74 years, and 75 years or over), defined as:

Numerator – number of deaths for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, by age group, by ICD‑10 cause groups

Denominator – number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, by age group

and is presented as a rate per 100,000 population.

National Agreement on Closing the Gap July 2020

12 March 2025

Driver

For all measures, a decreasing rate is desirable.

Numerator (all measures)

Name: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Causes of Death Collection

Frequency: Annual

Documentation (links): https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/causes-death/causes-death-australia/

Denominator (measure 1)

Name: Births Australia

Frequency: Annual

Documentation: https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/births-australia

Denominator (measures 2 and 3)

Name: Estimates and projections for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians

Frequency: Annual (updated data for all years included in the March 2025 Dashboard update)

Documentation: https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples/estimates-and-projections-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-australians

Provider name: ABS

Provider area: Health and Vitals (numerator); Demography (denominators) 

2014–2018 (five-year aggregate) (data updated in March 2025)

2019–2023 (five-year aggregate) (data updated in March 2025)

Infants (Children under one year) by the leading causes of death (and total) and all cause total, by years (five years combined) by selected states and territories (and total), by Indigenous status.

Children 1–14 years by the leading causes of death (and total) and all cause total, by years (five years combined), by selected states and territories (and total), by Indigenous status.

People aged 15 years or over by age group (5‑year age groups and 75 years or over), by the leading causes of death (and total) and all cause total, by years (five years combined), by selected states and territories (and total), by Indigenous status.

Measure 1: Numerator divided by Denominator multiplied by 1,000. Rates use the total of the five years for numerator and total of five years for denominator.

Measures 2 and 3: Numerator divided by Denominator multiplied by 100,000. Rates use the total of the five years for numerator and total of five years for denominator.

Data are provided for non‑overlapping time periods, other than for the latest reporting period.

Counting rules

Numerator (all measures)

Aggregate number of deaths, over the five‑year time period.

Reporting is only for those jurisdictions which have adequate levels of Indigenous identification (New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory from 1998).

Excludes deaths where Indigenous status was not stated.

From 2016, deaths with not stated age have not been prorated and are excluded from analysis.

Data are presented for the underlying cause of death according to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines the underlying cause of death as the disease or injury that initiated the train of morbid events leading directly to death.

Data are provided for the ‘leading causes of death’ based on the WHO recommended tabulation of leading causes, For further information see: https://www.abs.gov.au/methodologies/causes-death-australia-methodology/2023#mortality-tabulations-and-methodologies. Where possible, the leading causes of death are presented as the top five cause groups listed from highest to lowest Indigenous rate, for each age group, for the most recent period (five years combined).

A top six is presented if there are equal number of deaths for the causes listed as the fifth leading cause of death.

Less than top five causes may be listed if there are only a small number of deaths against some of the causes.

The leading causes of death need to be re‑assessed each reporting period. If a change is identified, data may need to be backcast to the baseline year for the most recent set of leading causes to ensure a consistent time series.

Denominator (measure 1)

• Total number of live births, over the five‑year time period.

Denominator (measures 2 and 3)

• The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population is calculated from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population estimates and projections at 30 June (medium series) for each of the five years in the reference period combined.
• The non‑Indigenous population is calculated by subtracting the 30 June Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population from the 30 June total population.

Data are presented in five‑year groupings due to volatility of the small numbers involved.

Mortality rates by Indigenous status are produced for New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory only. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mortality rates are not produced for Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory due to the small number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths reported in these jurisdictions.

Caution should be used when interpreting time series data. The ABS have introduced a number of enhancements to the derivation of Indigenous status. In particular, the use of the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) (in addition to the Death Registration Form (DRF)) has been introduced at different times across jurisdictions. This has led to an increased number of reported deaths of both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous people and a corresponding decrease in the number of deaths where the Indigenous status is unknown or not stated. These changes have introduced a break in time series in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander death statistics in:

• Victoria (from 2023) – For more information on this change and the impacts see: Technical Note: The impact of using multiple sources for deriving the Indigenous status of deaths in 2023 – changes for Victoria and coroner referred deaths. 
• New South Wales (from 2022) – see: Technical Note: The impact of using two sources for deriving the Indigenous status of deaths in NSW in 2022.
• Queensland (from 2015) – see: Life Tables for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 2015-2017.
• South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory (from 2007).

There is a corresponding effect on national data.

From 2014, cells with small values have been randomly adjusted to protect confidentiality. Some totals will not equal the sum of their components. Cells with a zero value have not been adjusted.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rates reported for this indicator have been revised down compared to previous reporting on the dashboard. This follows from the release of 2021 Census-based Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population data. Please refer to the How to interpret the data page for more information.

Comparisons of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rates over time should be used with caution. Increasing mortality rates may reflect improving/increasing Indigenous identification within administrative data, rather than changes in underlying mortality rates. Please refer to the How to interpret the data page for more information.

Mortality rates based on a small numbers of deaths may volatile between reference periods. Age‑specific death rates based on a very low death count have not been published, and appear as 'np'. Age‑specific death rates based on a number of deaths below 10 should be treated with caution. Please see the How to interpret the data page for more information.

Future reporting will seek to include the following additional disaggregations:

• all States and territories and Australian total (currently data only available for total of New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory)
• remoteness areas
• socio‑economic status of the locality
• gender.