The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has revealed that the greatest drop of deaths in Australia in the past decade has occurred while the COVID-19 pandemic has been active in the past year.
The Bureau’s report Causes of Death, Australia, 2020 Report found the country recorded 161,300 deaths last year, six per cent less than in 2019.
Commenting on the statistics the Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt said Australia was one of only a small number of countries including New Zealand and Denmark recording a lower death rate during the pandemic.
“It is also reassuring to see that Australia did not record an increase in suicide deaths as predicted by published modelling,” Mr Hunt said.
“The official statistics have now confirmed the number of suicide deaths in 2020 was 3,139, 5.4 per cent lower than the number of suicide deaths in 2019 (3,318),” he said.
Mr Hunt said this was a 6.2 per cent decrease from 2019, the lowest national figure since 2016 overall and the lowest figure since 2013 for women and girls.
He said that an increase in suicide rates was recorded among Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islanders in 2020, a 3.7 per cent increase on the number of lives lost in 2019.
“This is an age-standardised rate of 27.1, more than twice that of the non-Indigenous population (12.1),” he said.
“In addition, while most age groups saw a slight decrease, the suicide rate among 15 to 24 year olds remained relatively steady.”
Mr Hunt said the ABS Report also found that heart disease remained the biggest cause of death in Australia followed by dementia, stroke, lung cancer and chronic lower respiratory diseases.
He said the largest decrease was in Australians dying from respiratory diseases, down 24 per cent last year.
“The drop in influenza deaths was unprecedented – only 55 Australians died from flu in the first half of 2020, and not one in the second half,” he said.
“In the previous year, 1,080 Australians died from flu.”
Mr Hunt said the dramatic decrease was mainly attributed to COVID-19 measures such as increased handwashing and social distancing.
He said COVID-19 was the 38th leading cause of death in 2020, with 898 registered deaths in total.
The ABS’s report Causes of Death, Australia, 2020 can be viewed online at this PS News link.
