Guide to national death data services

Learn about national death data services and who can use them.

Australian Coordinating Registry (ACR)

The Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages Queensland (RBDM) is the Australian Coordinating Registry (ACR). All states and territories in Australia have authorised us to provide access to national death datasets:

• fact of death (FOD)
• cause of death unit record file (COD URF)
• Australian Death Check (ADC).

To use these services, applicants must:

• apply strict protocols to keep information private
• have strong data security measures
• use de-identified data for research (if possible).

Fact of death (FOD)

This subscription service is only for Australian state, territory, and federal government agencies. Agencies can use this service to update their administrative databases. It cannot be used for research or statistics.

The FOD dataset includes details about people who died in Australia, such as:

• full name
• date of birth
• residential address details.

Find out more about the FOD service.

Cause of death unit record file (COD URF)

This service is for eligible organisations and researchers from institutions or universities. The COD URF is a snapshot of data coded in ICD-10, (not ICD-10-AM). The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) compiles this data using records from all Registries of Births, Deaths and Marriages, as well as state/chief coroners.

Uses of COD URF:

• health research and policy development
• testing ideas and pilot studies
• comparing different treatments
• studying diseases and their outcomes.

Data versions

Each year's data has 3 versions:

• preliminary
• revised
• final.

Data files are available back to 2006 (final version). You will only get the latest version of a file. Earlier versions of the same year’s file are not available.

Example: If both preliminary and revised files exist for a year, you will receive the revised file.

Upcoming data releases

To apply, complete a request form. This helps RBDM assess your needs and match you with the right service.

Find out more about the COD URF service.

Australian Death Check (ADC)

This service is only for commercial organisations and Australian states, territory and federal government agencies.

ADC is the only official source of national death data available to commercial organisations.

The service quickly cleanses datasets against over 4.3 million registry death records in minutes.

Eligible users can match their data against ADC records to keep their customer information current and prevent identity fraud.

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