Seq No. Metadata item Obligation Max occurs - Data extract—identifier, N[N(7)] Conditional obligation:
In the National Mortality Database, this data element collects the Snapshot ID. It comprises any number up to 8 digits that is unique for the data tables within the SQL server, automatically assigned.
Snapshot IDs and dates are provided in the End-to-End data import wizard to allow users to retrieve the version of the dataset for use.
Mandatory 1 - Data extract—reference period, date YYYY DSS specific information:
In the National Mortality Database, the reference year assigned to a death is determined by the scope of the collection and incorporates both registration date and the date when a record is received by the ABS. Deaths assigned any given reference year will include:
all deaths registered in Australia during the reference year and received by the ABS by the end of the March quarter of the subsequent year; and deaths registered prior to the reference year but not previously received from the Registry nor included in any statistics reported for an earlier period. Year of Registration is assigned by the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages during processing. If Year of Registration is missing from the data received by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Year of Registration is imputed as the year in which the record is received by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. All records are assigned a Year of Registration.
Mandatory 1 - Death—date of registration, month M[M] DSS specific information:
For some deaths, there may be considerable lag between when the death occurred and when it is registered. These ‘late registrations’ predominantly occur during the month of December.
In the National Mortality Database, month of Registration is assigned by the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages during processing. If registration month is missing from data provided by the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, it is derived by the ABS as the month of the file in which the record is included. All records are assigned a Month of Registration.
Mandatory 1 - Death—jurisdiction of registration, Australian state/territory code AA[A] DSS specific information:
For the National Mortality Database, the group of other territories of Jervis Bay, Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island are out of scope for this data element. By convention, deaths in the Jervis Bay Territory are registered in the Australian Capital Territory and deaths in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island are registered in Western Australia.
Note that deaths data are also often reported by state of usual residence of the deceased.
Codes 'NSP', 'N/S', and 'OT' are not used in the National Mortality Database.
Data for this item is referenced from the jurisdiction where the registration occurred. This differs from data published by the ABS which utilises data from the State of Usual Residence.
Mandatory 1 - Person—age at death, code N[NN] Mandatory 1 - Person—age range, code N[N] Mandatory 1 - Person—area of usual residence, code NNNNN DSS specific information:
The method used to convert collected demographic information into a 5-digit usual residence code changed between 1964 and 1965.
From 1965, the first digit was populated using the 'State of usual residence' code, the second digit was populated using the single-digit 'Statistical Division' code, the third digit value would always be set to 'zero', and the fourth and fifth digits would be populated using the 2-digit Local Government code. E.g., 52011 represents the LGA of Harvey in the South-West division of WA. The '2' is the 1-digit statistical code for the South-West SD.
From 1964 to 1982, deaths whose usual residence were outside of the State of Registration were coded to SLA/LGA of occurrence.
SLA code '9299' represents usual residence overseas who die here in Australia, SLA code '9499' represents no fixed place of abode, and SLA '9899' represents State undefined.
Mandatory 1 - Person—country of birth, code NN[N] DSS specific information:
In 1983 a new 3-digit country code list, ABS Demography Country Listing, was introduced based on a combination of the following classification systems:
Overseas Arrivals and Departures (OAD) country code list. Department of Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs (DILGEA) country code list. Vital Statistics country codes. The 3-digit codes that were introduced in 1978 were recoded to the 3-digit 1983 ABS Demography Country Listing codes with the following modifications:
051 Transki, Bophutatswania, Venda to 044 South Africa. 209 Cocos Keeling Island to 436 Cocos Keeling Island. 501 OTHER not elsewhere classified to 504 Not Elsewhere Classified. 502 At Sea to 503 At Sea. Mandatory 1 - Person—date of death, DD DSS specific information:
In the National Mortality Database, the permissible values are 01-31.
If day of death is not available, date is coded to 15 (i.e., CODE 99 'Not stated/inadequately described' is not used.)
Mandatory 1 - Person—date of death, DDMMYYYY DSS specific information:
In the National Mortality Database, this data element is derived from the elements Person—date of death, DD , Person—date of death, month M[M] and Person—date of death, YYYY .
For some records, a date of death may be unknown (e.g., skeletal remains). Missing information is coded as follows for the different date components:
If the day of death is not available, then the day is coded to 15. If the month of death is not available, then the month is coded to 07 'July.' If the year of death is not available, then it is calculated, if possible, from date of birth and age at death. Otherwise, year of death is coded to 9999. Mandatory 1 - Person—date of death, month M[M] DSS specific information:
In the National Mortality Database, if month of death is not stated or unavailable, then month of death is coded to CODE 7 'July' (i.e., CODE 99 'Not stated/inadequately described' is not used.)
Mandatory 1 - Person—date of death, YYYY DSS specific information:
In the National Mortality Database, if year of death is not available then year of death is calculated, if possible, from date of birth and age at death. Otherwise, year of death is coded to 9999.
Year of death can be different to the reference year and year of registration with the Registries of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Mandatory 1 - Person—length of time resident in Australia, total years N[N] DSS specific information:
In the National Mortality Database, this data element is coded as follows:
00-96: 0 to 96 years residence in Australia
97: 97 or more years residence in Australia
98: Not applicable (born in Australia)
99: Not stated
Note: Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages provide the Australian Bureau of Statistics with year of arrival in Australia rather than period of residence. The ABS derives period of residence from year of arrival and year of death.
Mandatory 1 - Person—marital status, at death code N DSS specific information:
In the National Mortality Database, where age at death is less than 10 years then the marital status of the deceased is coded to CODE 1 'Never Married'.
Mandatory 1 - Person—occupation, certifier of death code N DSS specific information:
In the National Mortality Database this data element collects the professional type of the person who certified the death.
Note: Queensland coded 'Aboriginal Nursing Sister' to code 3 until 1980.
Mandatory 1 - Person—occupation, code NN DSS specific information:
Previous to 1982, the 2-digit ABS Demography Occupation code list was used to collect this Data Element.
The ABS has strong reservation about the quality of occupation data. The data on occupation which are supplied on death certificates are of doubtful quality. The occupation on the death certificate should be the last occupation of the deceased, whereas the person may have been in another occupation for most of his/her adult life. The accuracy of the data recorded on the death certificate is also doubtful.
Up to and including 1989, occupation data is only available for the following age groups: males 15-64 years and females 15-59 years.
Reliable occupation data for New South Wales females are only available from 1985 onwards. In 1981 and 1982 female occupations were coded by the automatic coder where possible but no attempts were made to code those which could not be automatically coded.
Only about 20% of females in the age group 15-59 were coded in 1981 and 1982. On the historical DEMOSS data sets for 1983 and 1984 all NSW females have occupation code 1000. Female occupation data should therefore not be disseminated for years prior to 1985.
Mandatory 1 - Person—sex, code X DSS specific information:
In the National Mortality Database only the values CODE 1 'Male' and CODE 2 'Female' are used.
Where sex is not stated, efforts are made to find other information provided by the Registry, which offers a strong indication of sex, such as the cause of death of the deceased. Failing this, sex is assigned during processing based on the last digit of the death registration number for that death by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Mandatory 1 - Person—underlying cause of death, code (ICD-9) {A}NNN{.N} DSS specific information:
The leading alphabetic character and numeric character following the decimal were not collected as part of this data set.
Mandatory 1 - Record—identifier, X[X(15)] DSS specific information:
In the National Mortality Database, this data element collects the Mortality identifier (Mort ID), the unique number given to each death record, used for matching purposes.
The maximum length of this identifier is 15 digits up to 2014, and 16 digits maximum from 2015 onwards.
The unique number assigned is generated as follows:
Year of registration (4 digits), State/Territory of registration, permissible values 1-8 (1 digit), District (2 digits), and Registration number (8 digits, zero filled to the left). Mandatory 1