This slide shows the age distribution of deaths that occurred in the three year period 1995-97 in the Northern Territory (NT), Western Australia (WA) and South Australia (SA). According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, these three jurisdictions were the only ones in which the identification of Indigenous deaths was adequate to allow for reporting during the relevant time period (other States have been added to the list for later years). It is important to note that these three jurisdictions together accounted for only about one-third of the Indigenous population of Australia, so they may not adequately represent the experience of the other jurisdictions.

In NT, WA and SA combined, over half of all deaths identified as being of Indigenous males occurred in people less than 50 years old. This was true for only 13% of other male deaths. Among females, 41% of deaths identified as Indigenous, but only 7% of other deaths, occurred among people under 50 years old. Although the graph doesn’t show this, these differences were not due to high infant mortality, but to premature deaths among Indigenous adults.