The year 2020 will be remembered as not just the first time the world heard about coronavirus, but also for the devastating Black Summer bushfires that scorched the Australian east coast.
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These unprecedented events have raised questions about the impact on the health of the Australian population.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has looked into the causes of deaths for 2020 and found despite the globally unsettled times, there was actually a decrease in mortality in Australia.
While alcohol-induced deaths increased by 8.3 per cent, there was a significant reduction in respiratory diseases, the ABS reported.
The five leading causes of death actually decreased.
These included Ischaemic heart disease, dementia including Alzheimer's disease, cerebrovascular diseases, lung cancer and chronic lower respiratory disease.
All were down on the number of deaths by those causes recorded in 2019.
Death rates from suicide, drug overdoses and car crashes also decreased.
There were 3139 deaths due to suicide with males more strongly represented - 2384 men died by suicide and 755 females.
This compares to 3318 suicides in 2019 (2502 males and 816 females).
For females, the suicide rate was the lowest since 2013 and for males the lowest since 2016.
The median age at death for people who died by suicide was 43.5, and it was the 15th leading cause of death compared to the 13th in 2019.
Car accident deaths also reduced in 2020, down 10 per cent on 2019.
COVID-19 was the 38th leading cause of death with 898 deceased.
The median age of those who died from COVID in 2020 was 86, with just over half the deaths female (460 female deaths compared to 438 male deaths).
However, those who died under 70 years of age were most likely to be male.
Dementia was the most common pre-existing condition (275 deaths, while chronic cardiac conditions, hypertension and diabetes were also commonly reported comorbidities.
The majority of deaths occurred in people with a usual residence of Victoria (800 deaths).
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