We are often asked what percentage of registered deaths are included in Ryerson. The simple answer is that we don't know exactly, because there are too many variables. But we are able to provide some interesting statistics which can act as a guide to estimating the coverage. The table below compares the total deaths recorded in NSW each year with the total notices published in both Sydney daily newspapers - Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) and Daily Telegraph (DT). We have also identified those notices appearing in both newspapers on the same day, to avoid double-counting in our estimates. There is a clear declining trend in the number of notices published, despite a gradual increase in the number of deaths occurring. We put this trend down to two factors: - the increasing cost of inserting a death notice. This has a two-fold result: some deaths are now not reported at all, while others which in the past would have been reported in more than one paper are now only reported once. Thus, many non-metropolitan deaths are now being recorded in country papers, and not published in the metropolitan dailies.
- the increasing proportion of residents with ethnic origins, for whom publication of a death notice is not a natural action, or who are more likely to use an ethnic-language newspaper to notify of a death, rather than the SMH.
The figures for actual death registrations from 1972 until the present were supplied, and are used, with the permission of the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. Figures for earlier years are taken from the "Official Yearbook of the Commonwealth of Australia", published by the ABS. To compare the Registry figures with the newspaper figures, we have divided the yearly total for each paper by the corresponding Registry total, to give the inclusion rates as raw percentages. We have also identified those cases where the same notice was inserted in both papers on the same day, and removed these duplicates when calculating the overall percentage. Such a calculation can only give an approximation, because of factors such as: - deaths which are the subject of more than one notice over a number of days. A sample of our data shows about 3.5% of published deaths fall into this category.
- deaths which occur interstate or overseas, and so do not count in the NSW stats, but have a notice published in a NSW newspaper. A sample of our data shows about 6.5% of published deaths fall into this category.
These figures suggest that about 10% of published deaths should be excluded when comparing the combined SMH and DT figures to those from the Registry. We have used this figure when calculating our "best guess" for the combined percentage. Further figures are added to the table as each years' notices are completed, and in the case of current years, when the NSW Registry website is updated with the previous year's totals. YEAR | DEATH REGS | SMH DEATHS | RAW SMH % | DT DEATHS | RAW DT % | DUPLICATES
(Both papers, same day) | COMBINED %
(our best estimate) | 1950 | 30,965 | | | | | | | 1951 | 31,932 | 18,671 | 58% | | | | | 1952 | 32,038 | 26,099 | 59% | | | | | 1953 | 31,707 | 18,716 | 59% | | | | | 1954 | 32,444 | 19,423 | 60% | | | | | 1955 | 32,553 | 19,849 | 61% | | | | | 1956 | 34,064 | 20,882 | 61% | | | | | 1957 | 33,317 | 19,933 | 60% | | | | | 1958 | 32,350 | 19,951 | 62% | | | | | 1959 | 35,249 | 21,799 | 62% | | | | | 1960 | 35,030 | 22,184 | 63% | | | | | 1961 | 35,048 | 21,970 | 63% | | | | | 1962 | 36,861 | 232719 | 63% | | | | | 1963 | 37,226 | 23,736 | 64% | | | | | 1964 | 39,487 | 25,156 | 64% | | | | | 1965 | 38,949 | 25,423 | 65% | | | | | 1966 | 40,546 | 26,391 | 65% | | | | | 1967 | 39,613 | 25,702 | 65% | | | | | 1968 | 41,803 | 26,706 | 64% | | | | | 1969 | 40,665 | 26,099 | 64% | | | | | 1970 | 43,601 | 27,504 | 63% | | | | | 1971 | 41,691 | 26,654 | 64% | | | | | 1972 | 42,865 | 26,652 | 62% | | | | | 1973 | 44,085 | 25,186 | 57% | | | | | 1974 | 44,663 | 27,479 | 62% | | | | | 1975 | 40,484 | 24,782 | 61% | | | | | 1976 | 42,098 | 25,796 | 61% | | | | | 1977 | 40,338 | 24,337 | 60% | | | | | 1978 | 40,336 | 23,837 | 59% | | | | | 1979 | 38,790 | 22,868 | 59% | | | | | 1980 | 41,030 | 23,027 | 56% | | | | | 1981 | 39,944 | 23,092 | 58% | | | | | 1982 | 42,334 | 22,839 | 54% | | | | | 1983 | 40,302 | 21,966 | 55% | | | | | 1984 | 39,078 | 21,680 | 55% | | | | | 1985 | 44,006 | 22,667 | 52% | | | | | 1986 | 41,990 | 21,447 | 51% | | | | | 1987 | 41,964 | 21,777 | 52% | | | | | 1988 | 44,436 | 21,507 | 48% | | | | | 1989 | 44,756 | 22,217 | 50% | 1,518 | 4% | 465 | 47% | 1990 | 43,552 | 20,577 | 47% | 1,563 | 4% | 423 | 45% | 1991 | 42,304 | 19,813 | 47% | 1,343 | 3% | 364 | 44% | 1992 | 44,578 | 19,959 | 45% | 1,649 | 4% | 447 | 43% | 1993 | 43,034 | 19,345 | 45% | 1,479 | 3% | 366 | 43% | 1994 | 44,881 | 19,959 | 44% | 2,206 | 5% | 559 | 43% | 1995 | 44,710 | 18,205 | 41% | 4,068 | 9% | 812 | 43% | 1996 | 45,038 | 18,130 | 40% | 4,697 | 10% | 792 | 44% | 1997 | 45,289 | 17,619 | 39% | 5,468 | 12% | 865 | 44% | 1998 | 44,437 | 17,037 | 38% | 5,850 | 13% | 1,013 | 44% | 1999 | 43,540 | 16,551 | 38% | 5,935 | 14% | 1,149 | 44% | 2000 | 45,389 | 16,282 | 36% | 6,463 | 14% | 1,297 | 43% | 2001 | 44,960 | 15,445 | 34% | 6,662 | 15% | 1,274 | 42% | 2002 | 46,712 | 15,805 | 34% | 7,262 | 16% | 1,343 | 42% | 2003 | 46,061 | 14,955 | 32% | 7,175 | 16% | 1,188 | 41% | 2004 | 45,881 | 14,415 | 31% | 7,622 | 17% | 1,187 | 41% | 2005 | 44,803 | 13,651 | 30% | 7,390 | 16% | 1,165 | 40% | 2006 | 45,926 | 13,050 | 28% | 7,723 | 17% | 1,053 | 39% | 2007 | 47,025 | 13,576 | 29% | 7,886 | 17% | 1,026 | 39% | 2008 | 48,006 | 13,725 | 29% | 8,137 | 17% | 1,015 | 39% | 2009 | 47,314 | 12,724 | 27% | 7,634 | 16% | 868 | 37% | 2010 | 47,493 | 12,189 | 26% | 7,266 | 15% | 785 | 35% | 2011 | 49,801 | 12,413 | 25% | 7,345 | 15% | 762 | 34% | | | | | | | | | TOTAL
1989-2011 | 1,045,490 | 377,642 | 36% | 124,341 | 12% | 20,218 | 41% | TOTAL
1951-2011 | 2,520,407 | 1,474,148 | 58% | | | | | YEAR | DEATH REGS | SMH DEATHS | RAW SMH % | DT DEATHS | RAW DT % | DUPLICATES
(Both papers, same day) | COMBINED %
(our best estimate) |
This page is owned by Ryerson Index Inc, a non-profit organisation incorporated under the laws of New South Wales, Australia. The last update was October 30th, 2012.
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