Contents >> Leading Causes of Death >> Overview - Leading Causes of Death OVERVIEW



Ranking causes of death is a useful method of describing patterns of mortality in a population. It allows comparison over time and between populations. However, different methods of grouping causes of death can result in a vastly different list of leading causes for any given population. For this reason ABS ranks leading causes of death in this publication based on research presented in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Volume 84, Number 4, April 2006, 297-304 . For further information see Explanatory Notes 41-43.



In 2011, the leading underlying cause of death for all Australians was Ischaemic heart disease (I20-I25), which includes angina, blocked arteries of the heart and heart attacks. Ischaemic heart diseases were identified as the underlying cause of 21,513 deaths, 14.6% of all deaths registered in 2011. While Ischaemic heart diseases have been the leading cause of death in Australia since 2000, the proportion of deaths due to this cause has decreased, from 19.5% (26,063) in 2002 to 14.6% (21,513) in 2011.



Cerebrovascular diseases (I60-I69) have remained the second leading underlying cause of death in 2011. Cerebrovascular diseases include haemorrhages, strokes, infarctions and blocked arteries of the brain. Over the last 10 years, deaths due to this cause have decreased by 10.2%, from 12,533 deaths in 2002 to 11,251 deaths in 2011.



Dementia and Alzheimer's disease (F01, F03, G30) was the third leading cause of death in 2011. The number of deaths due to this cause has increased by 126% over the past decade from 4,364 in 2002 to 9,864 in 2011. This is largely due to an increase in deaths due to Dementia (F01, F03), which increased from 2,513 in 2002 to 6,877 in 2011. For further information see Explanatory Note 84.



Trachea, bronchus and lung cancers (C33-C34) were the fourth leading cause of death in 2011. Over the last 10 years, deaths due to this cause have increased by 11.1%, from 7,303 in 2002 to 8,114 in 2011.



The top 10 leading causes of death accounted for 52% of all deaths registered in 2011, and the top 20 leading causes accounted for 67.2%.

2.1 LEADING CAUSES OF DEATH (a) , Australia - Selected years - 2002, 2006, 2011 (b) 2002 2006 2011 Cause of death and ICD code no. Rank no. Rank no. Rank Ischaemic heart diseases (I20-I25) 26 063 1 23 132 1 21 513 1 Cerebrovascular diseases (I60-I69) 12 533 2 11 479 2 11 251 2 Dementia and Alzheimer disease (F01, F03, G30) 4 364 6 6 550 4 9 864 3 Trachea, bronchus and lung cancer (C33-C34) 7 303 3 7 353 3 8 114 4 Chronic lower respiratory diseases (J40-J47) 6 256 4 5 463 5 6 570 5 Diabetes (E10-E14) 3 329 9 3 669 8 4 209 6 Colon, sigmoid, rectum and anus cancer (C18-C21) 4 649 5 3 857 6 4 087 7 Blood and lymph cancer (including leukaemia) (C81-C96) 3 791 7 3 700 7 3 978 8 Heart failure (I50-I51) 3 367 8 2 902 11 3 488 9 Diseases of the urinary system (N00-N39) 2 887 11 3 197 9 3 386 10 Prostate cancer (C61) 2 852 12 2 951 10 3 294 11 Breast cancer (C50) 2 716 13 2 643 13 2 937 12 Influenza and pneumonia (J09-J18) 3 084 10 2 711 12 2 492 13 Pancreatic cancer (C25) 1 834 15 2 077 15 2 416 14 Intentional self-harm (X60-X84)(c) 2 320 14 2 118 14 2 272 15 Skin cancers (C43-C44) 1 462 17 1 648 17 2 087 16 Accidental falls (W00-W19) 629 38 1 288 20 1 845 17 Hypertensive diseases (I10-I15) 1 353 20 1 500 18 1 802 18 Cardiac arrhythmias (I47-I49) 1 226 21 1 280 21 1 612 19 Cirrhosis and other diseases of liver (K70-K77) 1 354 19 1 416 19 1 589 20 (a) Causes listed are the leading causes of death for all deaths registered in 2011, based on WHO recommended tabulation of leading causes. See Explanatory Notes 41-43 for further information. (b) See Explanatory Notes 81-99 for further information on specific issues relating to 2011 data. (c) Excludes Sequelae of suicide (Y87.0) as per the WHO recommended tabulation of leading causes. Care needs to be taken in interpreting figures relating to suicide. See Explanatory Notes 92-95.





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