ABS statistics show huge disparities in death rates depending on place of birth.
People born overseas died from covid at a rate three times higher than Australian-born citizens over the first two years of the pandemic, new ABS data reveals.
The data covers the 2556 Australians who died from covid up until February 2022.
Middle East-born Australians had an age-standardised death rate of about 30 covid deaths per 100,000 people, 15 times higher than people born in Australia.Â
People born in southeastern Europe or North Africa had the next-highest death rates, both coming in at about half that of Middle Eastern Australians, but still about seven times higher than non-migrants.
In stark contrast, people born in the UK and Ireland, northwest Europe or northeast Asia had a death rate very close to Australian-born citizens.
People born in the UK and Ireland were the only group to have a lower age-standardised death rate than Australian-born citizens; migrants from everywhere else in the world were more likely to die from covid in Australia than people born in the country.
Looking across socio-economic divides, inequalities are perhaps even more evident.
Covid deaths in the most disadvantaged areas of the country were three times higher than covid deaths in the most advantaged areas.
In real terms, people living in areas ranked in the bottom 20% of the socio-economic index made up about 950 of the 2556 covid deaths, while people living in the top 20% made up less than 250.
In regard to gender-based differences, men in almost every age group were far more likely to die from covid than women.
Among under-80s, 300 more men than women died.
Only in the 90+ age group did the number of women who died outnumber men; hardly surprising given that women tend to live to an older age.
Around 70% of all Australians who died of covid had a pre-existing chronic condition.
The most common were cardiac conditions like atrial fibrillation, cardiomyopathy or atherosclerosis, present in about a third of the people who died with a chronic condition.
Dementia and diabetes follow as the second and third-most common chronic conditions, respectively.
Cancer was pre-existing in about 14% of covid deaths where the person had a chronic condition, with blood and lymph cancers being the most commonly certified cancer type.
Other common chronic conditions were hypertension, respiratory conditions, kidney diseases, musculoskeletal disorders, obesity and Parkinson’s.
Covid-induced pneumonia was present in more than two-thirds of deaths where a causal sequence had been certified, with the second most common condition being respiratory failure.
Other infections, acute renal or cardiac complications, other organ failure, delirium and acute respiratory distress syndrome were also identified in patients, to varying degrees.
