COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in Australia in 2022, data shows

COVID-19 has become the first infectious disease to crack the top five causes of death in Australia since 1970.

This virus was the third leading cause of death in 2022 in a holistic overview, accounting for more than one in 20 deaths over the year or 9859 out of 190,939 deaths, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

It was also among the top ten leading causes of death in a state and territory breakdown, coming in third in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory and ninth in the Northern Territory.

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The virus was the sixth leading cause of death in Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania.

"This marks the first time an infectious disease has appeared in the top five leading causes since 1970, when influenza and pneumonia was ranked fifth," Lauren Moran, ABS head of morality statistics, said.

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"Broken down by sex, we saw that COVID-19 was the third-ranked cause of death for males (5484) and the fourth-ranked cause of death for females (4375).

"Those who died from COVID-19 had a high median age at death of 85.8 years."

Dementia – including Alzheimer's – was the leading cause of death for females and the second leading cause for males.

"The top five causes of death in 2022 were ischaemic heart disease, dementia (including Alzheimer's disease), COVID-19, cerebrovascular diseases (strokes) and lung cancer, which when combined, accounted for more than a third of all deaths," Moran said.

There were 20,000 more deaths in 2022 than in 2021.

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Ischaemic heart disease, diabetes, chronic lung diseases, lung cancer and suicide were the top five causes of death among Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander peoples in 2022, with COVID-19 the ninth leading cause of death.

In 2022, 3249 people died by suicide, at a rate of 12.5 per 100,000 people.

Men accounted for three-quarters of these deaths.

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