According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), the mortality rate of Indigenous people was 1.6 times that of non-Indigenous people between 2008 and 2012.
“While there have been some improvements in mortality rates for Indigenous people over recent decades, a notable gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people remains,” the report said.
Two thirds or 65 per cent of Indigenous people died before they reached 65, compared with 19 per cent of non-Indigenous people.
In the period from 2008 to 2012, the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people narrowed by 17 per cent, the report added.
“The reduction in the gap was mostly due to a significant narrowing of the mortality gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous females (30 per cent decline in the rate difference)," it read.
“By comparison, among males, there was no significant decrease in the mortality gap.”
The leading cause of death among Indigenous people was cardiovascular disease (25 per cent of deaths), followed by cancer (20 per cent of deaths).
External causes of injury and poisoning caused 15 per cent of deaths, which included death by suicide (4.8 per cent) and transport accidents (3.9 per cent).
The report also revealed an 82 per cent increase in the gap between non-Indigenous and Indigenous incarceration rates between 2000 and 2014.
“[The] imprisonment rate of Indigenous people increased significantly between 2000 and 2014 from 1,100 to 1,857 per 100,000 adults,” the report said.
“The non-Indigenous rate increased slightly over this period.”
According to the report, the imprisonment rate of Indigenous people was 13 times higher than the rate for non-Indigenous people. They were also more likely to have been previously incarcerated (75 per cent) than non-Indigenous people (71 per cent).
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