The aim is to present accounts of developments and research work or analysis of an experimental nature as to encourage discussion and comment. Views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Where quoted or used, they should be attributed to the author. In order to assess the success of programs which have been implemented to address such problems, it is necessary to be able to identify changes in health status over time. Several measures can be used to examine trends in health status, but for the Indigenous population this has largely been limited to mortality statistics because of a lack of suitable information of high quality for many other aspects of health and well-being.
Death is an endpoint of importance because it is untreatable and irreversible.
The legal requirements regarding notification of death mean that the fact that a death has occurred is generally very accurately recorded. The centralised nature of vital statistics reporting means that such information is relatively easy to collate and analyse. Even for death statistics, however, it is difficult to obtain a truly national picture because of incomplete identification of Indigenous people in the death records of some States. The information from these States and Territories has been combined to produce quasi-national mortality statistics, which form the basis of this report. Deaths from infectious and parasitic diseases have become uncommon among non-Indigenous Australians, with lifestyle disorders now becoming the major contributors to death.