Mortality and Demographic Data 2006

Summary

Annual statistical publication that collates and analyses information on the underlying causes of all deaths registered in New Zealand.

The commentary summarises key facts, mortality rates, trends and major causes of death by age group and sex.

Selected facts from the publication:

Major causes of mortality in 2006

• There were 28,389 deaths registered in New Zealand in 2006. This is an almost identical figure to that of 10 years ago (ie, 1996), when there were 28,379 deaths.
• In 2006, females accounted for 343 more deaths (14,366 total female deaths; an age-standardised rate of 364.3 deaths per 100,000) than males (14,023 total male deaths; an age-standardised rate of 517.3).
• There were 2829 Māori deaths in 2006 (1547 males, 1282 females), accounting for 10 percent of total deaths. This gives an age-standardised rate of 896.8 for Māori males and 658.9 for Māori females.

Selected trends

Cancer

• There were 8094 deaths from cancer in 2006 (4144 males and 3950 females).
• Cancer and ischaemic heart disease were the leading causes of death for this period. In 2006, cancer accounted for 28.5 percent of deaths while ischaemic heart disease accounted for 20.8 percent.
• The age-standardised rate of cancer death has shown a downward trend from 1987 to 2006, with a 23.8 percent decrease for males and a 17.9 percent decrease for females over the period.
• Males had a consistently higher age-standardised rate of cancer death over this time, and in 2006 the male rate was 27.7 percent higher than the female rate.
• The Māori population had a consistently higher rate of cancer death than the non-Māori population, and Māori males had a higher rate than Māori females.
• In 2006, the calculated Māori male rate was 56.0 percent higher than the non-Māori male rate. Māori females had a calculated rate of cancer death that was 91.7 percent higher than the non-Māori female rate in 2006.

Ischaemic heart disease

• Ischaemic heart disease was the second leading cause of death after cancer in 2006, with 5912 deaths. Males accounted for 53.0 percent of these deaths, but the male age-standardised rate was nearly twice the female rate in 2006.
• The calculated Māori male age-standardised rate of death from ischaemic heart disease was 116.7 percent higher than the non-Māori male rate, and the calculated Māori female rate was 111.5 percent higher than the non-Māori female rate.

Cerebrovascular disease

• Cerebrovascular disease was the third leading cause of death in the total population in 2006, after cancer and ischaemic heart disease.
• There were 2674 deaths from cerebrovascular disease in 2006 and the majority (62.6 percent) were female deaths.
• Māori females had the highest age-standardised mortality rate of the four groups in 2006, followed by Māori males. The calculated Māori male age-standardised rate was 6.6 percent higher than the non-Māori male rate in 2006, and the calculated Māori female rate was 34.3 percent higher than the non-Māori female rate.

Diabetes mellitus

• There were 860 deaths from diabetes mellitus in 2006, with slightly more male (52.0 percent) than female deaths.
• The male age-standardised rate of death from diabetes has shown an upward trend from 1987 to 2006, with a 46.0 percent increase over the period. The female age-standardised rate over the same period increased by 32.1 percent.
• Males had a consistently higher age-standardised rate of death from diabetes mellitus over this time, and, in 2006, the male rate was 44.1 percent higher than the female rate.
• The calculated Māori male age-standardised rate of diabetes mellitus was 468 percent higher than the non-Māori male rate in 2006, and the calculated Māori female rate was 344 percent higher than the non-Māori female rate.