Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people enjoy high levels of social and emotional wellbeing.

A significant and sustained reduction in suicide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people towards zero.

There is no specified trajectory or expected timeline for achieving zero suicide. A trajectory of a 75% reduction in the suicide rate is presented here as it is the most ambitious of the four target trajectories (20%, 25%, 50% and 75%) developed through National Agreement processes.

Suicide death rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The measure is defined as:

Numerator – number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide deaths

Denominator – number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the population

and is presented as an age‑standardised rate per 100,000 people.

National Agreement on Closing the Gap July 2020

6 March 2024

Target

A low or decreasing rate is desirable.

Name (numerator): Causes of Death, Australia

Frequency: Annual (revised data for 2019 and 2020 included in the March 2024 Dashboard update – see Data quality considerations for further information)

Name (denominator): Estimates and Projections for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population

Frequency: Annual (revised data for 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 included in the March 2024 Dashboard update)

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

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

Provider name: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

Provider area: Causes of Death

2018

2022

2031

Total (includes New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, single years

State and territory (New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory only) and total (five jurisdictions combined), by Indigenous status, five‑year aggregates

Total (includes New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory), by Indigenous status, single years

State and territory (New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory) and total (includes New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory), by Indigenous status by sex, five‑year aggregates

State and territory (New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory) and total (includes New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory), by Indigenous status, by age group, five‑year aggregates

Suicide death rate, total (includes New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory), by age group, by Indigenous status, by sex, five‑year aggregates

Suicide death rate, Australia, by remoteness area, by Indigenous status, five‑year aggregates

Suicide deaths, state and territory, by remoteness area, five‑year aggregates

Suicide death rate, Australia, by remoteness area, by Indigenous status, by sex, five‑year aggregates

Suicide deaths, Australia, by remoteness area, by Indigenous status, by sex, five‑year aggregates.

Numerator divided by Denominator multiplied by 100,000.

Counting rules

Numerator:

• Deaths from intentional self‑harm: includes ICD–10 codes X60–X84 and Y87.0.
• Deaths are based on date of registration (not date of occurrence).
• Deaths where the Indigenous status of the person is unknown or not stated are not included.
• Rates for single year use single year deaths data. Rates for five years combined use the average of five years of deaths data.

Denominator:

Estimated population as at 30 June:

• The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population is calculated from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population estimates and projections (series B).
• The non‑Indigenous population is calculated by subtracting the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population from the total population.
• Rates for single year use single year population data. Rates for five years combined use the mid‑point of five years of population data.

Age-standardised rate:

Age‑standardised rates are calculated using the direct method using five‑year age groups from 0–4 to 75 years and over, with the Australian standard population as at 30 June 2001. For estimates by remoteness area, rates are calculated using five‑year age groups from 0–4 to 65 years and over. See the How to interpret data page for further information.

Disaggregations:

Causes of death statistics by jurisdiction and remoteness are based on usual residence of the deceased. Deaths of persons usually resident overseas which occur in Australia are included in the state/territory in which their death was registered.

Sex relates to biological sexual characteristics. Where the sex of the deceased has not been specified as male or female the death is excluded from the analysis by sex.

Remoteness area is classified according to the ABS 2016 Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) using SA1 as the building block. Data exclude deaths where residence was categorised as ‘migratory’, ‘no known usual residence’, ‘overseas’, or it was not sufficient to identify the geographic area and assign remoteness area.

Supporting calculations

Suicide death numbers.

Reporting of rates is only for those jurisdictions which have adequate levels of Indigenous identification (New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northen Territory in line with national reporting guidelines), including the disaggregations. The exception is the data by remoteness which includes all jurisdictions (rather than the five jurisdictions in the target indicator) as data on the Estimated Resident Population (ERP) by remoteness are not available by jurisdiction.

For most jurisdictions the ABS Deaths and Causes of Death reports identify a death as being of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person where the deceased is recorded as Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, or both on the Death Registration Form (DRF) or the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD). The use of this information from the MCCD has been introduced at different times across jurisdictions depending on when systems and processes have allowed for the ABS to use as follows:

• From 2007 for South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory.
• From 2015 for Queensland, which resulted in a noticeable decrease in the number of deaths for which the Indigenous status was ‘not stated’ and an increase in the number of deaths identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. This impact is discussed in Life Tables for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 2015-2017.
• From 2022 for New South Wales, information from the MCCD has been used for the first time, which resulted in an increase in the number of deaths identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. For more information on this change and the impacts refer to Technical Note: The impact of using two sources for deriving the Indigenous status of deaths in NSW in 2022.
• For Victoria, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin of the deceased continues to be derived from the DRF only.

For disaggregated data, single‑year estimates are subject to volatility due to small numbers. Therefore, five‑year aggregates are provided for point‑in‑time comparisons for jurisdictions and across age groups and remoteness areas.

All causes of death data from 2006 onward is subject to a revisions process. Once the data for a reference year is 'final', it is no longer revised. The data presented here is final for 2019 and earlier years, at the revised stage for 2020 and preliminary for 2021 and 2022. See the Data quality section of the methodology in the Causes of Death, Australia, 2022 publication available here: www.abs.gov.au/methodologies/causes-death-australia-methodology/2022#data-quality

Coronial cases are more likely to be affected by a lag in registration time, especially those which are due to external causes, including suicide. Due to small numbers these lagged coroner‑referred registrations can create large yearly variation in some causes of deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons. Caution should be taken when making year to year analysis.

Caution should be taken when interpreting figures relating to intentional self‑harm and when conducting time series analysis (due to changes in Indigenous identification and causes of death coding processes over time). See Causes of Death, Australia methodology (www.abs.gov.au/methodologies/causes-death-australia-methodology).

The data for Indigenous status is influenced by the quality of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identification of people in the death registration process, which is likely to differ across jurisdictions and over time. In 2022, there were 975 deaths registered in Australia for whom Indigenous status was not stated, representing 0.5% of all deaths registered.

Queensland deaths for 2010 have been adjusted to minimise the impact of a number of late registrations received in that year on mortality indicators.

Some age‑standardised rates are unreliable due to small numbers of deaths over the reference period. This can result in greater volatility of rates. Please refer to the How to interpret the data page for more information.

Comparisons of rates since 2016 should be used with caution, as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population estimates are underestimated. Please refer to the How to interpret the data page for more information.

From 2016, reference year deaths with not stated age have not been prorated.

Additional disaggregations required for future reporting:

• all states/territories (currently only available for New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory)
• disability
• socio‑economic status of the locality.