Potentially avoidable deaths

Definition: The number of deaths each year of people under 75 from conditions that are potentially preventable through individualised care and/or treatable through existing primary or hospital care.

Source: National Mortality Database; Table S1.4.29.

  • In 2016, there were around 27,000 potentially avoidable deaths in Australia – an age-standardised rate of 105 deaths per 100,000 people. This is a decrease of 45% from the rate of 193 deaths per 100,000 people in 1997.
  • The age-standardised rate for males in 2016 was almost twice the rate for females – 136 deaths per 100,000 males compared with 75 deaths per 100,000 females.
  • The 5-year aggregate rate for 2012–2016 for Indigenous people (based on data from New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory) was 344 potentially avoidable deaths per 100,000 people. This was more than 3 times the rate for non-Indigenous people (103 deaths per 100,000 people).