Deaths
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Deaths data in this report are from two sources: the National Mortality Database (NMD) and the National Coronial Information System (NCIS). Box 10 outlines how each source has been used to present deaths data.
Box 10: Deaths data sources
AIHW National Mortality Database
The AIHW National Mortality Database (NMD) contains information on deaths notified to the registrars of births, deaths and marriages. It includes information on the age, sex, cause of death, Indigenous status and remoteness.
National Coronial Information System data
The National Coronial Information System (NCIS) includes all deaths that are referred to the coroner for investigation. NCIS data is a product of the coronial investigation and includes information such as location of incident, and contribution of alcohol and other drugs that are not included in the NMD. Because of the time it takes for coronial investigations, NCIS data are not available via the data report service as quickly as NMD data. At the time of writing, NCIS data via the data report service were only available for the first half of the reporting period (1 July 2019 to 31 December 2019). Most, but not all injury cases are referred to the coroner. This means there may be some deaths where alcohol was involved but no coronial investigation took place. Only cases where the coronial investigation process was complete were included – ongoing or open cases were not included. For these reasons, the number of deaths reported from the NMD and NCIS differs and it is not appropriate to double the NCIS figure to arrive at an annual estimate.