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Recent Australian Data

*  In March 2010, the Mindframe project team released advice to stakeholders about changes to the Causes of Death Data by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Click here for a summary of the advice.  For more information about the data visit www.abs.gov.au

This summary is taken from data published in ABS Catalogue 3303.0 Causes of Death Australia, 2008 released on 31st March 2010, and from additional tables of data available at the ABS website ( http://abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/3303.02008?OpenDocument ).

Key facts related to suicide deaths in Australia in 2008 included the following:

  • In 2008, 1.5% of all deaths registered were attributed to suicide, the same proportion as in 2007.
  • There were 2,191 deaths from suicide registered in 2008, 137 more than was recorded for 2007.
  • Males comprised 78% of suicide deaths for 2008 (1,710 deaths compared to 481 deaths for females).
  • The age-standardised suicide rate for persons in 2008 is 10.2 per 100,000. This shows a great reduction since the peak in 1997 of 14.3 per 100,000.
  • The age-standardised suicide rate for males was 16.0 per 100,000 in 2008. While this was an increase on the revised 2007 suicide rate for males (15.0 per 100,000) it is still lower than at any year during the period 1996 to 2005.
  • The age standardised suicide rate for females in 2008 was 4.5 per 100,000. This is the same as the revised rate for female suicide deaths in 2007.
  • The highest age-specific suicide rate for males in 2008 was observed in the 40-44 age group (26.4 per 100,000). The age group which had the lowest age-specific suicide rate for males was 15-19 years (9.4 per 100,000 which is lower than the revised rate for 2007 for this age group of 11.0 per 100,000)
  • As for most previous years, the highest age-specific suicide rate for females males in 2008 was observed in the 50-54 age group (8.6 per 100,000). The age group which had the lowest age-specific suicide rate for females was 80-84 years (2.0 per 100,000 which is lower than the revised rate for 2007 for this age group of 2.5 per 100,000)
  • In 2008, the most common mechanism for deaths by suicide was hanging which accounted for 53% of suicide deaths.
  • The ABS has instituted a significant quality assurance process to improve the quality of coding of deaths data. ABS advises that care should be taken in comparing 2008 suicide data with 2007 suicide data, as much of the observed increase from 2007 to 2008 would be due to the quality improvement process applied to 2008 data.
  • In order to further improve the accuracy of the data on suicide deaths; in 2010 the ABS started a process of revising causes of death data for the previous reporting period (in this case 2007 data) by including any subsequently closed coronial cases that had failed to reach a conclusion ahead of the original ABS cut off period. Consequently the previously released data for 2007 have been revised and the figures referred to above are the revised figures included in the most recent ABS report.

For more details of age-specific suicide rates for 2008, refer to Suicide: Further Facts/Stats

Below are graphical representations of 2008 suicide data, and suicide trends for 1989-2008 (developed by the Hunter Institute of Mental Health from ABS Catalogue No 3303.0, 2008).

Download the 2008 Suicide Graphs in PDF format.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Effect of ABS Revisions of 2007 Causes of Death Data

In order to improve the accuracy of the data on suicide deaths; in 2010 the ABS started a process of revising causes of death data for the previous reporting period (in this case 2007 data) by including any subsequently closed coronial cases that had failed to reach a conclusion ahead of the original ABS cut off period. Consequently the previously released data for 2007 have been revised and the figures referred to above are the revised figures included in the most recent ABS report.

The graph below shows that for both males and females, in every age group, the revised rates (published by ABS in 2010) were slightly higher than the preliminary rates (published by ABS in 2009).

The graph also shows that despite this, the overall pattern of suicide rates across the age span has not changed as a result of the revision of 2007 data by the ABS.