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Infant mortality by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status, 1996 – 2005, NSW (rate per 1,000 live births)

Notes: Given the volatility in measures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mortality, caution should be expressed in assessing trends in mortality over time.

Source: NSW infant deaths are sourced from the NSW Child Death Review Team Registry of Deaths. The NSW population of live birth figures are sourced from the NSW Midwives data collection.

Comment

On average, over the period from 1996 to 2005, the mortality rate for Aboriginal children was 12.9 deaths per 1,000 live births compared with 4.2 deaths for non-Aboriginal children.

In both cases there is an apparent overall general downward trend, though with some fluctuation. The trend in Aboriginal deaths appears to be segmented into two periods: from 1996 to 2000, and from 2001 to 2005. The average mortality rate for the period 1996 to 2000 was 15.1 deaths per 1,000 live births.  This decreased to 10.7 deaths per 1,000 live births for the period from 2001 to 2005. The size of this decrease is far greater than the trend for non-Aboriginal child deaths. Within the period from 2001 to 2005, however, there is no further evidence of a trend – only of fluctuation across that period.

Some caution is needed in interpreting mortality figures for Aboriginal children. The Australian Bureau of Statistics advises that the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths registered in NSW is likely to be an underestimate of the true number of deaths. Fluctuations in the level of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander mortality over time partly reflect changing levels of coverage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths, unexplained changes in the number of people identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in different data collection and over time, variations in the use of a standard Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status question, and not stated status.