Caution:
This site includes information about child deaths, which some readers may find distressing. If you need support, free and confidential help is available.
We wish to convey our sincere condolences to the families and friends of the infants, children and young people in NSW who have died. It is our foremost responsibility to learn from these deaths and to use that knowledge to make a difference.
Biennial report of the deaths of children in New South Wales: 2020 and 2021
The report analyses the 950 deaths of children and young people in NSW over 2020-2021.
It examines trends, causes, and demographic patterns over the past 15 years, showing where progress has occurred and where inequities persist. The report highlights that overall, child and infant mortality continues to decline. However, it identifies groups, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, those living in regional and remote areas, children with a child protection history, and those from the most disadvantaged communities, who remain disproportionately affected.
Page last updated
27 November 2023
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Biennial report of the deaths of children in New South Wales: 2020 and 2021Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and people with lived experience should be aware that this report includes information about child deaths.
We use the Mindframe guidelines on responsible, accurate and safe suicide and self-harm reporting.
The report details how infant and child mortality rates in NSW fell between 2007 and 2021.
The decline has occurred across most causes of death – including from natural causes and external causes such as transport, drowning and other unintentional injury-related causes. The infant (under 1 year) death rate decreased by 28% and the death rate declined by 24% for children aged 1 to 17 years. However, the falling infant and child mortality rates are not equal across some groups or across NSW.
The report also finds while the leading cause of death differed by age, natural causes (including congenital conditions and cancer) result in more deaths than external causes (including accident, homicide, and suicide) for children.
For infants, the leading cause of death was perinatal conditions (including prematurity); and for children aged 1-9 years, the leading cause of death was cancer.
However, among all individual cause categories, suicide has become the leading cause of death for children and young people aged 10 to 17 - with the rate of suicide increasing by 68% over the 15-year period.
The report includes 2 annexures: