Australia Yearbook - 2001

Chapter 9—Health 371
C6.2 INFANT MORTALITY, By Sex—1901–1998
Rate(a)
Males
125
Females
100
75
50
25
0
1901 1911 1921 1931 1941 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001
(a) Rate per 1,000 live births.
Source: Death registrations.
C6.3 AGE-SPECIFIC FERTILITY RATES, Aboriginal and Total Australian Population
Rate(a)
250
QLD communities 1987
WA 1986
NT 1986
200
Total Australia 1986
150
100
50
0
15–19 20–24 25–29 30–34 35–39 40+
(a) Live births per 1,000 females.
Source: Thomson 1991.
Graph C6.2 shows the infant mortality rate per
1,000 live births from 1901 to 1998. Female death
rates are always lower than male rates for reasons
that are still not clear. The rate fell from around
120 for males and 100 for females at the beginning
of Federation to below 60 in the late 1920s. Both
male and female rates have remained below
10 since 1986, and the overall rate was 5 in 1998.
This compares well with other developed
countries. Population data on Indigenous infant
mortality have only been available since the 1970s,
although Thompson noted that the Northern
Territory in the 1960s reported rates of around 150
per 1,000 live births. The best estimates are around
70–80 in the 1970s falling to around 25 in 1980s
(Thomson 1991). In 1994–96 it was 18.6, still much
higher than that for non-Indigenous infants.
Deaths from all causes, particularly from
SIDS and respiratory system diseases, are
much more common in Indigenous infants.
Poor socioeconomic circumstances and
living conditions, higher rates of teenage
fertility and of low birthweight babies, all
contribute to this higher rate (see graphs
C6.3 and C6.4). The children born in
conditions which result in higher infant
mortality are likely to have poorer health
throughout their lives. Low birth weight and
other early problems may well relate to many
of the diseases seen in higher frequency
among Indigenous adults such as
cardiovascular disease, diabetes and renal
failure (Mathews 1997).