Injury in Australia
- AIPN
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released updated web-reports of injury-related emergency department (ED) presentations, hospitalisations and deaths in Australia.
Infographics:
Injuries account for about 20% of all ED presentations and 5% of all hospitalisations.
Every day, there are around 5,000 ED presentations, 1,600 hospitalisations and 43 injury-related deaths.
Young children had the highest rates of ED presentations of any age group.
People aged 65+ were most likely to be hospitalised or die from an injury.
In 2024-25, there were 1.8 million ED presentations (6,800 per 100,000 population) and 585,000 hospitalisations (2,100 per 100,000 population) due to injury in Australia. 15,800 Australians also died due to injury in 2023-24 (59 per 100,000 population).
In 2023–24, individuals in the most disadvantaged areas were 1.6 times as likely to present to an ED for injury and 1.3 times as likely to be hospitalised for injury, compared to those in the least disadvantaged areas. Additionally, the age-standardised rate of ED presentations and hospitalisations increased with increasing remoteness.
In 2024–25, the leading causes of injury hospitalisations were:
Falls (253,800 hospitalisations or 926.1 per 100,000 population)
Contact with objects (82,283 cases or 300.3 per 100,000 population)
Transport (66,890 cases or 244.1 per 100,000 population)
In 2023–24, the leading causes of injury deaths were:
Falls (6,722 deaths or 25.0 per 100,000 population)
Suicide (3,316 deaths or 12.3 per 100,000 population)
Accidental poisoning (1,597 deaths or 5.9 per 100,000)
The rate of injury incidents has varied over time, with the rate of ED presentations decreasing by an annual average of 1.9% since 2018-19, while injury hospitalisations have remained relatively stable over the past decade, and injury deaths have increased by an average of 0.9% a year.
Dedicated webpages are available on various injury topics, so be sure to visit the AIHW website to learn more about the incidence of injury in Australia.
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