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Injury death rate comparisons

Injury Death Rates - International Comparisons

Figure 1 shows injury death rates for eleven developed countries including New Zealand. The rates are from the most up-to-date comparative study on injury death rates available when this fact sheet was developed. This study suggests that New Zealand's performance is mid-range, with a rate of 55.8 deaths per 100,000 person-years for the period 1984-1993.

Considerable caution does need to be applied in comparing the rates, as the number and particular years that make up each country's estimate differ. Moreover, as the trends in injury rates indicates, New Zealand's injury death rate has fallen considerably over the past two decades to 41.7 per 100,000 person-years in 1988. (Reliable injury death data for the years after 1999 are not yet available.)

New Zealand's injury death rate may have fallen further since 1998 as a result of more recent road safety and youth suicide prevention efforts. It is possible that New Zealand's injury death rate is now less than that of its neighbour, Australia. Australia's injury death rate for 2000 is estimated to be 41 per 100,000 person-years, slightly up from rates achieved in the mid 1990s.

Figure 1. Rates of injury deaths for eleven developed countries

Notes:
(1) All rates in Figure 1, except the New Zealand rate for 1998, are from Fingerhut L.A., et al. (1998) International Comparative Analysis of Injury Mortality: Findings From the ICE on Injury Statistics. Advance Data Number 303, US National Center for Health Statistics.
(2) The injury death rate for Australia in 2000 is estimated to 41 per 100,000 persons per year. Source: Monash University Accident Research Centre.