What has been killing Australians?
Here are the leading causes of death in the past year, and COVID-19 was not in the top 20.
Key points
- Australian Bureau of Statistics reveals what killed Australians last year.
- Last year was the peak of Delta COVID-19.
- COVID-19 was the 34th leading cause of death.
To start with, no one died of Australian spider bites last year.
There were 171,469 registered deaths in Australia last year, up 10,169 from the previous year. But we are reminded this was due to the pandemic and the many lockdowns, which may have stopped us from getting into harm's way and contracting the usual list of diseases.
Until age 85, more men died than women died. However, after that age more women than men died, possibly reflecting the larger female population aged 85-plus.
These were the same from 2020 to 2021:
- Ischaemic heart disease - damage or disease in the heart’s major blood vessels.
- Dementia, including Alzheimer's.
- Cerebrovascular diseases - conditions that affect blood flow in the brain.
- Malignant neoplasm of trachea, bronchus, and lung cancer.
- Chronic lower respiratory diseases - including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Most of the deaths at this time occurred during the Delta wave of the pandemic, which began in mid-2021.
- There were 1,122 deaths due to COVID-19 registered in 2021.
- 98.9% occurred during the Delta wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (July – December 2021). The ABS do not receive information on specific variants of COVID-19, and this information is based on the date of death only.
- COVID-19 was the 34th leading cause of death.
- There were a further 31 people who died of other causes (e.g., cancer), with COVID-19 as a contributory cause of death.
The profile of people who died from the Delta wave differed from those who died during the initial waves:
The median age at death was 79.1. This compares with a median age of 86.9 in 2020.
Over half were male (660 male deaths, 462 female deaths). In 2020, just over half the people who died from COVID-19 were female.
Pneumonia was the most common acute disease outcome and was present in 60.0 per cent of COVID-19 deaths in 2021, compared with 31.2 per cent of COVID-19 deaths in 2020.
Cardiac conditions were the most reported pre-existing conditions (287 deaths). The most reported pre-existing condition in 2020 was dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.
New South Wales (557 deaths) and Victoria (553 deaths) had the highest death rate. In 2020, most deaths occurred in Victoria.
Only two people died from the flu (influenza) last year.
You are four times more likely to die from a dog bite than being struck by lightning. Although, the risk of either is low. Four people died from a dog bite (two men and two women), and only one person died from being struck by lightning (one man).
One woman died from fainting, two women died from contact with hot tap water, and four men died from contact with hot heating appliances, radiators, or pipes.
All causes of death data are available on the ABS website.
