Deaths are defined as avoidable in the context of the present health system.

International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) codes in scope are as specified below:

Rates are directly age-standardised to the 2001 Australian population.

Variability bands are to be calculated for single-year rates using the method below.

Presented per 100,000 population.

Number

100,000 x (Numerator ÷ Denominator)

Calculated separately for ‘preventable’ and ‘treatable’ categories.

Variability bands are to be calculated for single-year rates using the following method for estimating 95% confidence intervals:

Age-standardised rate

Where w_i= the proportion of the standard population in age group i 

d=the number of deaths in age group i

n=the number of people in the population in age group i

2007, 2008 (resupplied for updated Estimated Resident Population (ERP)), 2009, 2010 (updated for revision to ABS cause of death data and updated ERP), 2011—State and territory, by preventable and treatable categories.

2009, 2010 (updated for revision to ABS cause of death data), 2011—Nationally, by preventable and treatable categories:

• Indigenous status

2007-2011—State and territory, by preventable and treatable categories, by:

• Indigenous status

Some disaggregations may result in numbers too small for publication. Disaggregation by Indigenous status will be based on data only from jurisdictions for which the quality of Indigenous identification is considered acceptable—NSW, Qld, SA, WA, NT.

Most recent data available for 2014 Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Reform Council (CRC) report:

• 2011 (Total population and Indigenous status at national level)
• Aggregated data 2007–2011 (Indigenous status)

Due to small number of Indigenous deaths reported each year, 5 year combined data will be reported for state and territory disaggregations.

ERP for total population is sourced from ERP rebased after the 2011 Census.  ERP for Indigenous data is sourced from 2006 based ERP.

A system error affected the reporting of WA Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander death registrations for 2007, 2008 and 2009 which affected the WA and national death rates reported for the 2011 and 2012 CRC reports. These data were revised for 2013 reporting.

Data by remoteness may be available, pending assessment of data quality.