Australia recorded 187,268 registered deaths in 2024, up 2.3 per cent on the previous year, according to new Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures. The increase of 4,137 deaths is being driven by an ageing population, with older Australians accounting for a greater share of deaths than a decade ago.
Beidar Cho, ABS head of demography, said: ‘The 2.3 per cent rise in death registrations in 2024 reflects our ageing population, with 68 per cent of all deaths occurring in people aged 75 years and over. This is higher than it was 10 years ago.’
In 2014, 66 per cent of deaths were among people aged 75 and over. Growth has been particularly pronounced at the oldest ages. Deaths among those aged 95–99 rose from 8,024 in 2014 to 13,898 in 2024, while deaths among Australians aged 100 and over increased from 1,666 to 2,896 over the same period. The number of deaths in the 75–79 age group climbed from 16,988 to 23,528.
‘A similar trend can be seen in the proportion of deaths that occurred in people aged 90 and over. This age group accounted for 24 per cent of all deaths in 2024 and 2023. This is up from 21 per cent in 2014,’ Ms Cho said.
Despite the rise in registered deaths, the standardised death rate fell to 5.078 deaths per 1,000 standard population in 2024, down from 5.471 in 2014, indicating mortality risk has improved after adjusting for the population’s changing age structure. ‘The fall in standardised death rates over the last 10 years reflects continued improvements in health outcomes for Australians, who are living longer,’ Ms Cho said.
The median age at death was 79.6 years for males (unchanged from 2023) and 84.7 years for females (up 0.1 years).
More detailed information on mortality patterns will be released in Causes of death, Australia, 2024 on Friday 14 November.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
