The median age of those who died from COVID-19 was 83.9 years, 82.4 years for men and 86 for women. This is higher than the life expectancy of Australian men, which according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare is 80.9 (and 85 for women).
he ABS analysis covers the pandemic period from March 2020 to the end of April 2022, using information where an individual was certified by state registries as having died from, or with, COVID-19.The analysis shows that of the 5940 deaths where an individual was certified as dying from, or with, COVID-19, the underlying cause of death for 5335, or 89.8 per cent, of these people was COVID-19.This compares with the 7223 deaths local health agencies had reported across the pandemic to April 30.Of the 5335 COVID-19 deaths across the pandemic, 5269 had an underlying cause of death assigned to acute COVID-19 infection and the virus was laboratory-confirmed.Apart from the 47 deaths that were because of the long-term effects of COVID-19, another 19 deaths were owing to suspected COVID-19, despite their not being confirmed in a laboratory at the time of certification.Of the 356,596 death registrations received by the ABS during the more than two-year pandemic period, 1.7 per cent were of people who died with or from COVID-19.
The WHO defines the underlying cause of death as the disease or condition that initiated the train of morbid events leading to death.The ABS said that of the deaths owing to COVID-19, most had other conditions listed on the death certificate (93.5 per cent).Half the certificates had both a causal sequence and pre-existing conditions listed on the certificate. On average, deaths owing to COVID-19 had 2.9 other diseases and conditions certified alongside the virus.
