National Healthcare Agreement: PI 07-Infant and young child mortality rate, 2018 QS
Data Quality Statement Attributes
Identifying and definitional attributes | |
Metadata item type: | Data Quality Statement |
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METEOR identifier: | 681833 |
Registration status: | Health!, Standard 30/01/2018 |
Data quality | |
Institutional environment: | These collections are conducted under the Census and Statistics Act 1905. For information on the institutional environment of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), including the legislative obligations of the ABS, financing and governance arrangements, and mechanisms for scrutiny of ABS operations, see ABS institutional environment. |
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Timeliness: | Death records are provided electronically to the ABS by individual Registrars on a monthly basis for compilation into aggregate statistics on a quarterly and annual basis. One dimension of timeliness in death registrations data is the interval between the occurrence and registration of a death. As a result, a small number of deaths occurring in one year are not registered until the following year or later. Births records are provided electronically to the ABS by individual Registrars on a monthly basis for compilation into aggregate statistics on a quarterly and annual basis. One dimension of timeliness in birth registrations data is the interval between the occurrence and registration of a birth. As a result, some births occurring in one year are not registered until the following year or even later. This can be caused by either a delay by the parent(s) in submitting a completed form to the registry, or a delay by the registry in processing the birth (for example, due to follow-up activity due to missing information on the form, or resource limitations). Preliminary estimated resident population (ERP) data are compiled and published quarterly and is generally made available 5–6months after the end of each reference quarter. Every year, the 30 June ERP is further disaggregated by sex and single year of age, and is made available 5–6months after the end of the reference quarter. Commencing with data for September quarter 2006, revised estimates are released annually and made available 21 months after the end of the reference period for the previous financial year, once more accurate births, deaths and net overseas migration data become available. In the case of births and deaths, the revised data are compiled on a date-of-occurrence basis. In the case of net overseas migration, final data are based on actual traveller behaviour. Final estimates are made available every 5 years after a census and revisions are made to the previous inter-censal period. Generally, ERP data are not changed once they have been finalised unless there are compelling reasons to do so, as in June 2013 when data from September 1991 to June 2006 were revised (for more information on this recasting process, see the feature article titled Recasting 20 years of ERP in the December quarter 2012 issue of Australian demographic statistics (ABS 2013)). For further information on ABS ERP, see the relevant data quality statement. |
Accessibility: | Deaths data are available in a variety of formats on the ABS website under the 3302.0 product family. Births data are available in a variety of formats on the ABS website under the 3301.0 product family. ERP data are available in a variety of formats on the ABS website under the 3101.0 product family. Further information on deaths and mortality may be available on request. The ABS observes strict confidentiality protocols as required by the Census and Statistics Act 1905. This may restrict access to data at a very detailed level. |
Interpretability: | Data for this indicator have been presented as crude rates, either per 1,000 live births or 1,000 ERP. |
Relevance: | Deaths data are published on an annual basis. The ABS Deaths collection includes all deaths that occurred and were registered in Australia, including deaths of persons whose usual residence is overseas. Deaths of Australian residents that occurred outside Australia may be registered by individual Registrars, but are not included in ABS deaths or causes of death statistics. The ABS Births collection includes all births that are live born and have not been previously registered, births to temporary visitors to Australia, births occurring within Australian territorial waters, births occurring in Australian Antarctic Territories and other external territories, births occurring in transit (i.e. on ships or planes) if registered in the state or territory of "next port of call', births to Australian nationals employed overseas at Australian legations and consular offices and births that occurred in earlier years that have not been previously registered (late registrations). Births data exclude fetal deaths, adoptions, sex changes, legitimations and corrections, and births to foreign diplomatic staff, and births occurring on Norfolk Island. For further information on the ABS Deaths and Births collections, see the relevant data quality statements. |
Accuracy: | Information on births and deaths is obtained from a complete enumeration of births and deaths registered during a specified period and are not subject to sampling error. However, births and deaths data sources are subject to non-sampling error which can arise from inaccuracies in collecting, recording and processing the data. Concerns have been raised with the accuracy of the New South Wales births counts in recent years. In response to these concerns the ABS, in conjunction with the New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, has undertaken an investigation which has led to the identification of an ABS systems processing error. The ABS acknowledges that this has resulted in previous undercounts of births in New South Wales. Data for New South Wales and Australia have been revised to include previously unprocessed New South Wales birth registrations for the period 2005 to 2011. In June 2014, the New South Wales Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages (NSW Registry) transitioned to a new data processing system which resulted in temporary processing delays. These delays caused a number of birth records received by the NSW Registry in 2014 to be processed in 2015. As a result, the total number of births registered in New South Wales in 2014 (91,074) was 9,388 (9.3%) less than the number registered in 2013 (100,462). For a more complete understanding of the births occuring in New South Wales for 2014 users should consult Table 13 in Australian Demographic Statistics, June 2017 (ABS 2017) which provides more up to date information about births in 2014 and 2015. Analysis by the ABS showed that the distribution of important characteristics such as sex of child, age of mother, usual residence of mother and Indigenous status in 2014 data is similar to that in 2011–2013 data. Although it is considered likely that most deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) Australians are registered, a proportion of these deaths are not registered as Indigenous. Information about the deceased is supplied by a relative or other person acquainted with the deceased, or by an official of the institution where the death occurred and may differ from the self-identified Indigenous origin of the deceased. Forms are often not subject to the same best practice design principles as statistical questionnaires, and respondent and/or interviewer understanding is rarely tested. Over-precise analysis of Indigenous deaths and mortality should be avoided. The ABS Death Registrations collection identifies a death as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander where the deceased is recorded as Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, or both on the Death Registration Form (DRF). The Indigenous status is also derived from the medical certificate of cause of death (MCCD) for South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. For 2015 data, the Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages also used MCCD information for the first time to derive Indigenous status. This resulted in a noticeable decrease in the number of deaths for which the Indigenous status was 'not stated' and an increase in the number of deaths identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in Queensland. In November 2010, the Queensland Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages advised the ABS of an outstanding deaths registration initiative undertaken by the Registry. This initiative resulted in the November 2010 registration of 374 previously unregistered deaths which occurred between 1992 and 2006 (including a few for which a date of death was unknown). Of these, around three-quarters (284) were deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. The ABS discussed different methods of adjustment of Queensland death registrations data for 2010 with key stakeholders. Following the discussion, a decision was made by the ABS and key stakeholders to use an adjustment method that added together deaths registered in 2010 for usual residents of Queensland which occurred in 2007, 2008, 2007 and 2010. This method minimises the impact on mortality indicators used in various government reports. However, care should still be taken when interpreting Aborginal and Torres Strait Islander death data for Queensland for 2010. Please note that there are difference between data output in the Causes of Death, Australia 2010 (ABS 2012) publication and 2010 data reported for COAG, as this adjustment was not applied in the publication. For further details see Technical Note: Registration of outstanding deaths, Queensland 2010, from the Deaths, Australia, 2010 (ABS 2011) publication and Explanatory Note 103 in the Causes of Death, Australia 2010 (ABS 2012) publication. Investigation conducted by the Western Australian Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages indicated that some deaths on non-Indigenous people were wrongly recorded as deaths of Indigenous people in WA for 2007, 2008 and 2009. The ABS discussed this issue with a range of key stakeholders and users of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths statistics. Following this discussion, the ABS did not release Western Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths data for the years 2007, 2008 and 2009 in the 2010 issue of Deaths, Australia publication, or in the 2011 COAG data supply. The WA Registry corrected the data and resupplied the corrected data to the ABS. These corrected data were then released by the ABS in spreadsheets attached to Deaths, Australia, 2010 (ABS 2011) publication on 24 May 2012, and are included in this round of COAG reporting. In addition to that, 3 deaths in WA for 2009 which were wrongly coded as deaths of Indigenous people have been corrected as deaths of non-Indigenous people in previous round of COAG reporting. Deaths registered on Norfok Island from 1 July 2016 are included for the first time in this round of reporting. This is due to the introduction of the Norfolk Island Legislation Amendment Act 2015. Norfolk Island deaths are included in statistics for "Other Territories" as well as totals for all of Australia. Deaths registered on Norfolk Island prior to 1 July 2016 were not in scope for death statistics. All ERP data sources are subject to non-sampling error. Non-sampling error can arise from inaccuracies in collecting, recording and processing the data. In the case of Census and Post Enumeration Survey (PES) data, every effort is made to minimise reporting error by the careful design of questionnaires, intensive training and supervision of interviewers, and efficient data processing procedures. The ABS does not have control over any non-sampling error associated with births, deaths and migration data. For more information see the Demography working paper 1998/2 - quarterly birth and death estimates, 1998 (ABS 1999) and Australian demographic statistics (ABS 2013). Indigenous and non-Indigenous population estimates are available for Census years only. In the intervening years, Indigenous population figures are derived from assumptions about past and future levels of fertility, mortality and migration. In the absence of non-Indigenous population figures for these years, it is possible to derive denominators for calculating non-Indigenous rates by subtracting the Indigenous population estimates/projections from the total population. In the present table, non-Indigenous population estimates have been derived by subtracting the 2011 Census-based Indigenous population estimates/projections from the 2011 Census-based total persons ERP. Such figures have a degree of uncertainty and should be used with caution, particularly as the time from the base year of the projection series increases. Non-Indigenous data from the Deaths collection do not include death registrations with a ‘not stated’ Indigenous status. Some rates are unreliable due to small numbers of deaths over the reference period. Resultant rates could be misleading for example where the non-Indigenous mortality rate is higher than the Indigenous mortality rate. All rates in this indicator must be used with caution. |
Coherence: | The methods used to construct the indicator are consistent and comparable with other collections and with international practice. |
Source and reference attributes | |
Reference documents: | ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) 1999. Demography working paper 1998/2— Quarterly birth and death estimates, 1998. ABS cat. no. 3114.0. Canberra: ABS. Viewed 20 June 2017, http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/ProductsbyCatalogue/ ABS 2011. Deaths, Australia, 2010. ABS cat. no. 3302.0. Canberra: ABS. Viewed 8 June 2018, http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/allprimarymainfeatures/ ABS 2012. Causes of death, Australia, 2010. ABS cat. no. 3303.0. Canberra: ABS. Viewed 8 June 2018, http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/allprimarymainfeatures/ ABS 2013. Australian demographic statistics, December 2012. ABS cat. no. 3101.0. Canberra: ABS. Viewed 20 June 2017, http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/allprimarymainfeatures/ ABS 2017. Australian demographic statistics, June 2017. ABS cat. no. 3101.0. Canberra: ABS. Viewed 8 June 2018, http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/allprimarymainfeatures/ |
Relational attributes | |
Related metadata references: | Supersedes National Healthcare Agreement: PI 07-Infant and young child mortality rate, 2017 QS Health!, Standard 31/01/2017 |
Indicators linked to this Data Quality statement: | National Healthcare Agreement: PI 07–Infant and young child mortality rate, 2018 Health!, Superseded 19/06/2019 |