Death Statistics in Australia 2026 | Leading Causes of Death Facts

Death Statistics in Australia 2026

Australia sits among the world’s leaders in population health, with one of the highest life expectancies in the OECD and a long-run trajectory of declining age-standardised mortality rates. The latest comprehensive figures tell a story of progress continuing — but not uniformly. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), there were 187,268 registered deaths in Australia in 2024 — an increase of 4,137 deaths from 2023 — while the age-standardised death rate (SDR) decreased to 507.8 deaths per 100,000 people from 513.0 the previous year, confirming that the raw number rise reflects population growth and ageing rather than worsening per-person mortality risk. For 2025, provisional ABS data released in 2026 records 188,156 deaths registered through to 30 April 2026 — 1,072 deaths (0.6%) more than in 2024 and 4,882 (2.7%) more than in 2023 — with the age-standardised death rate for 2025 at 494.3 deaths per 100,000, lower than both 2024 (507.7) and 2023 (513.4). The early 2026 data adds further positive momentum: in January and February 2026 combined, 27,941 deaths were registered — 0.4% less than the same months in 2025 and 3.4% less than 2024, with age-specific death rates lower than 2025 and 2024 across most age groups for both males and females. The most significant structural development of the recent period is a historic one: in 2024, dementia including Alzheimer’s disease overtook ischaemic heart disease as the leading cause of death in Australia — the first time coronary heart disease had been displaced from the top since records began.

Australia’s life expectancy at birth for males is 81.1 years and for females 85.1 years, based on the 2022–2024 period published by the ABS in May 2026 — figures unchanged from the 2021–2023 estimates, following decreases in the two preceding periods caused by COVID-19. These are among the highest life expectancy figures in the OECD, with Australia ranking seventh among the 38 OECD member countries in 2023 (males and females combined), per OECD 2025 data cited by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). However, the aggregate national figure conceals a profound and persistent disparity: First Nations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) males born in 2020–2022 can expect to live, on average, to 71.9 years, and First Nations females to 75.6 years — a gap of more than 8 years compared to non-Indigenous Australians, who can expect to live, on average, to 80.6 years (males) and 83.8 years (females). That gap is the defining inequality in Australian mortality data, and it reflects the cumulative health consequences of historical dispossession, entrenched poverty, remoteness, and differential access to healthcare.

Interesting Facts: Death Statistics in Australia 2026

Source: ABS, Deaths Australia 2024 (abs.gov.au, latest release 2025); ABS, Causes of Death Australia 2024 (abs.gov.au, November 2025, revised May 2026); ABS, Provisional Mortality Statistics Jan–Feb 2026 (abs.gov.au, latest release); ABS, Life Expectancy 2022–2024 (abs.gov.au, May 2026); AIHW, Deaths in Australia — Summary, Life Expectancy, Leading Causes (aihw.gov.au, updated June 2026); AIHW Australian Burden of Disease Study 2024

The 10-year SDR improvement of 8% from 553 to 508 per 100,000 between 2015 and 2024 — drawn from AIHW’s trend analysis — confirms Australia’s continuing trajectory of genuine per-person mortality reduction. That improvement has been larger for males than females (-55 vs -38 deaths per 100,000 over the decade), reflecting faster progress on conditions that historically had greater male prevalence including ischaemic heart disease and smoking-related cancers. The 2025 provisional SDR of 494.3 — the lowest in the available data series — extends that trend into the most recent year, suggesting 2025 will represent the best per-person mortality performance in Australia’s modern recorded history.

The historic 2024 milestone of dementia overtaking ischaemic heart disease as the leading cause of death reflects two simultaneous long-term trends: the dramatic success of cardiovascular prevention and treatment in reducing coronary heart disease mortality over the past half-century, and the rising absolute burden of dementia in an ageing population with no equivalent treatment revolution. The ABS noted that in 2024, dementia caused over 1,000 more deaths than ischaemic heart disease — while a decade earlier, ischaemic heart disease mortality was more than 2.5 times the dementia rate. The narrowing and eventual crossing of those trajectories represents the dominant structural shift in Australian mortality patterns in 2024.

Leading Causes of Death in Australia 2024–2026

Top 10 Leading Causes of Death — Australia 2024 (ABS / AIHW)
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1. Dementia incl. Alzheimer's |████████████████████████████████████████████████████| New #1 — first ever over coronary HD
2. Ischaemic heart disease    |████████████████████████████████████████████████████| 8.7% of deaths (lowest rate since 1968)
3. Chronic lower resp. disease|████████████████████████████████████████████        | 3rd for first time since 1996
4. Cerebrovascular disease    |████████████████████████████████████████            | (stroke)
5. Lung cancer                |████████████████████████████████████████            | Major cancer burden
6. Prostate cancer            |████████████████████████████████████████████        | 2nd leading cancer death (male)
11. Suicide                   |████████████████████                                | 11th overall; 12.2/100K crude rate
12. COVID-19                  |████████████████                                    | 12th in 2024; down from 3rd in 2022
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Source: ABS Causes of Death Australia 2024 (revised May 2026); AIHW Leading Causes

Source: ABS — Causes of Death, Australia, 2024 (abs.gov.au, November 2025; revised May 2026); AIHW — Deaths in Australia: Leading Underlying Causes of Death (aihw.gov.au, updated June 2026)

<cite index=”23-1″>In 2024, dementia including Alzheimer’s disease overtook coronary heart disease as the leading cause of death. 2024 is the first year where dementia caused over 1,000 more deaths than ischaemic heart diseases. In 2023, the two conditions were close in number, with ischaemic heart diseases accounting for 9.3% of total deaths and dementia 9.1%.</cite> The dementia surge is entirely attributable to population ageing and the survival of more Australians into their 80s and 90s, where dementia prevalence is high and mortality risk from the condition dominates. There is no treatment that halts or reverses dementia progression; the death count will continue rising as the post-war birth cohort moves through its 80s.

<cite index=”27-1″>Ischaemic heart diseases were the second leading cause of death and accounted for 8.7% of deaths. It is the lowest mortality rate recorded for ischaemic heart diseases since its peak in 1968.</cite> That 56-year reduction in coronary heart disease mortality is Australia’s most significant long-run public health achievement — the product of widespread statin use, antihypertensive therapy, anti-smoking campaigns, improved surgical and catheter-based interventional techniques, and population-level dietary changes reducing saturated fat intake. The convergence and ultimate crossing of the dementia and coronary heart disease mortality curves is essentially the story of one success making another condition visible.

Life Expectancy and Mortality Trends in Australia 2026

Australian Life Expectancy at Birth — 2022 to 2024 Period (ABS, published May 2026)
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Males   |████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████| 81.1 years
Females |████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████| 85.1 years
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Unchanged from 2021-2023 — stabilising after COVID-19 pandemic decreases
OECD Ranking 2023: 7th (males and females combined)
Over past decade: +0.8 years males, +0.7 years females
Source: ABS Life Expectancy 2022-2024 (May 2026)

Source: ABS — Life Expectancy 2022 to 2024 (abs.gov.au, May 2026); AIHW — Deaths in Australia: Life Expectancy (aihw.gov.au, June 2026); AIHW — Australian Burden of Disease Study 2024 (HALE data)

<cite index=”26-1″>Life expectancy at birth for males was 81.1 years and for females was 85.1 years. Over the past decade, life expectancy increased by 0.8 years for males and 0.7 years for females.</cite> That decade-long improvement is substantial in absolute terms, though it represents a slowing from the faster gains achieved in earlier decades. <cite index=”26-1″>For the first time since the mid-1990s, life expectancy in Australia decreased across the years impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Decreases in life expectancy were seen in 2020–2022 (by 0.1 years for males and females from 2019–2021) and in 2021–2023 (by 0.1 years for males and 0.2 years for females from 2020–2022).</cite> The 2022–2024 figures showing no change rather than a recovery suggests the COVID-era losses have been contained rather than reversed, with the next period expected to show genuine recovery as pandemic-era excess mortality fully recedes.

The HALE estimates — males living 71.7 of their 81.1 years in full health (88%), and females 73.8 of their 85.1 years (86%) — reveal that while Australia’s raw life expectancy is excellent, a significant share of life is lived with chronic disease burden. Males live approximately 9.4 years of their average lifespan in less than full health; females live approximately 11.3 years. This growing morbidity tail is driven by the same ageing dynamics that are pushing dementia deaths upward — more Australians surviving to ages where multiple chronic conditions are common — and represents the central challenge for the Australian healthcare system in coming decades.

Suicide Statistics in Australia 2026

Suicide Deaths — Australia 2024 (ABS Causes of Death, preliminary revised)
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Total deaths by suicide (2024)  |████████████████████████████████████████████████| 3,326
Crude suicide rate (2024)       |████████████████████████████████████████████████| 12.2 per 100,000
Male share of suicides          |████████████████████████████████████████████████| 76.5%
Suicide ranking (2024)          |████████████████████████████████████████████████| 11th overall cause of death
Suicide — males (ranking)       |████████████████████████████████████████████████| 2nd leading external cause (males)
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Suicide data typically increases in revisions cycles as coronial information becomes available
Source: ABS Causes of Death 2024 (revised May 2026); AIHW Deaths in Australia June 2026

Source: ABS — Causes of Death, Australia, 2024 (abs.gov.au, revised May 2026); AIHW — Deaths in Australia (aihw.gov.au, June 2026)

In 2024, after preliminary revision, 3,326 deaths have been classified as being due to suicide. The crude suicide rate was 12.2 per 100,000 people. Suicide remained the 11th leading cause. Over three-quarters (76.5%) of people who died by suicide were male. Deaths due to suicide were the second highest ranked external cause of death in males. The ABS explicitly notes that suicide figures are preliminary and typically increase across revision cycles, as coronial processes for deaths under investigation can take months or years to conclude, with findings subsequently adding to the official count. Final figures for 2024 will be higher than the 3,326 currently published.

The 76.5% male share of suicide deaths reflects the persistent pattern in which men die by suicide at roughly three times the rate of women, despite women reporting higher rates of suicidal ideation and attempts. Explanations cited by the AIHW and suicide prevention researchers include higher rates of alcohol and substance use among male suicide victims, greater tendency toward more lethal methods, and lower rates of help-seeking behaviour among men experiencing mental health crises. Australia’s Suicide Prevention Australia and the Black Dog Institute both run nationally-funded research and intervention programmes, with the National Suicide Prevention Adviser reporting to the Australian Government across all states and territories.

Indigenous and Disadvantaged Mortality in Australia 2026

Life Expectancy Gap — First Nations vs Non-Indigenous Australians (ABS 2020–2022)
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Non-Indigenous males   |████████████████████████████████████████████████████████| 80.6 years
First Nations males    |████████████████████████████████████████████            | 71.9 years (−8.7 years gap)
Non-Indigenous females |████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████| 83.8 years
First Nations females  |████████████████████████████████████████████████        | 75.6 years (−8.2 years gap)
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"Closing the Gap" target: halving the life expectancy gap by 2031 (National Agreement)
Source: ABS Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Life Expectancy 2020-2022 (ABS 2023)

Source: ABS — Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Life Expectancy 2020–2022 (ABS 2023, cited in AIHW); AIHW Deaths in Australia — Summary (June 2026); ABS Crime and Justice (abs.gov.au)

<cite index=”22-1″>First Nations males born in 2020–2022 can expect to live, on average, to 71.9 and First Nations females to 75.6. Non-Indigenous males can expect to live, on average, to 80.6 and non-Indigenous females to 83.8: more than 8 years longer than First Nations males.</cite> The 8-year gap has remained stubbornly persistent despite the National Agreement on Closing the Gap — a formal 2020 framework between federal, state, and territory governments and the Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Organisations (COTI) committing to halve the LE gap by 2031. Progress on this target has been insufficient, with the most recent independent review noting that on current trajectories, the 2031 deadline will not be met. The gap reflects deep-seated structural inequities across housing, employment, income, justice system overrepresentation, and access to culturally safe healthcare that cannot be resolved by health interventions alone.

The ABS’s ongoing methodology improvements in deriving Indigenous status in death registration data — noted in the 2024 Deaths publication — are generating more accurate counts of First Nations deaths but are also producing apparent year-on-year increases that partly reflect improved identification rather than worsening mortality. This methodological nuance is important for interpreting trend data: some of the apparent increase in First Nations mortality figures in recent releases reflects the system getting better at counting, not just the underlying mortality changing. Both the counting and the underlying mortality are improving — but neither at the pace required to close the generational gap within the current policy timeframe.

Infant and Age-Group Mortality in Australia 2026

Key Age-Group Mortality Metrics — Australia 2024–2026 (ABS)
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Infant deaths 2024           |████████████████████                        | 957 (542 boys, 415 girls)
Infant mortality rate 2024   |████████████████████                        | One of world's lowest
Male deaths 0-44 rate (2025) |████████████████████████████                | 4.9% lower than 2024
Female deaths 0-44 rate (2025)|███████████████████████████████████████    | 6.0% lower than 2023
Age group driving crude increase|████████████████████████████████████████ | 65+ (population ageing)
SDR 2015-2024 improvement    |████████████████████████████████████████████| -8%
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Acts intended to cause injury: 406 per 100,000 offenders (2024-25) — ABS Crime stats
Source: ABS Deaths 2024; ABS Provisional Mortality Jan-Feb 2026; AIHW

Source: ABS — Deaths Australia 2024 (abs.gov.au); ABS — Provisional Mortality Statistics January to February 2026 (abs.gov.au, latest release 2026)

<cite index=”24-1″>There were 957 infant deaths registered in 2024 (542 boys and 415 girls). This was a 5.0% increase compared with the number registered in 2023 (911). Over the past 10 years, the number of infant deaths decreased overall from 1,012 in 2014. Australia has one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world.</cite> The 5% single-year uptick in infant deaths is noted but sits within the context of a decade-long declining trend, and ABS methodology notes include that an increase in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander births in 2024 was partly due to a methodological change in deriving Indigenous status — a factor that may also have contributed to the infant death count. The decade trend of declining infant deaths from 1,012 in 2014 to the mid-900s range by the mid-2020s reflects sustained improvements in neonatal intensive care, maternal health programs, and birth health infrastructure.

The 2026 early-year data is the most current mortality snapshot available. <cite index=”21-1″>The age-standardised death rate for January was 38.1 deaths per 100,000 people, lower than death rates for both 2025 (39.4) and 2024 (41.2). The SDR for February (33.6) was lower than both 2025 (35.0) and 2024 (38.1).</cite> These month-by-month improvements across the opening of 2026, covering both males and females across most age groups, continue the trajectory visible in the 2025 annual data — and provide preliminary evidence that 2026 may set yet another record-low age-standardised mortality rate for Australia when the full year is eventually compiled and published.

Disclaimer: This research report is compiled from publicly available sources. While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, no representation or warranty, express or implied, is given as to the completeness or reliability of the information. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions, losses, or damages of any kind arising from the use of this report.

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