New analysis reveals that injuries sent more than 575,000 Australians to hospital between July 2023 and June 2024, with falls topping the list by a wide margin.
Using the latest data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, iSelect found that falls made up 43.1% of injury-related hospitalisations—nearly 250,000 admissions—making them the most common cause. The majority of these were caused by slipping, tripping, or stumbling on the same level.
| Rank | Cause of injury | Female (rate) | Male (rate) | All genders (rate) | % higher in males | Hospitalisations (number) | % of injury-related |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Falls | 784.8 | 741.0 | 768.8 | -5.6% | 248,211 | 43.1% |
| 2 | Contact with objects | 168.9 | 435.5 | 302.0 | 157.8% | 80,705 | 14.0% |
| 3 | Transport | 154.3 | 330.3 | 242.5 | 114.1% | 65,189 | 11.3% |
| 4 | Other unintentional causes | 170.8 | 308.4 | 240.4 | 80.6% | 65,123 | 11.3% |
| 5 | Contact with living things | 102.4 | 143.6 | 123.4 | 40.2% | 32,857 | 5.7% |
| 6 | Overexertion | 41.7 | 62.6 | 52.3 | 50.1% | 14,455 | 2.5% |
| 7 | Accidental poisoning | 33.8 | 40.3 | 37.1 | 19.2% | 10,121 | 1.8% |
| 8 | Thermal causes | 14.6 | 26.7 | 20.7 | 82.9% | 5,403 | 0.9% |
| 9 | Undetermined intent | 11.6 | 18.9 | 15.2 | 62.9% | 4,033 | 0.7% |
| 10 | Choking and suffocation | 4.6 | 6.3 | 5.4 | 37.0% | 1,557 | 0.3% |
| 11 | Forces of nature | 1.7 | 3.9 | 2.8 | 129.4% | 815 | 0.1% |
| 12 | Electricity and air pressure | 1.6 | 3.8 | 2.7 | 137.5% | 722 | 0.1% |
| 13 | Drowning and submersion | 1.9 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 47.4% | 592 | 0.1% |
| 14 | Not reported | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 50.0% | 130 | 0.0% |
| Total | All external causes | 1680.2 | 2287.1 | 1990.4 | 36.1% | 575,345 | 100.0% |
Second on the list were injuries from contact with objects (e.g. sharp tools or flying objects), responsible for 14% of hospital admissions, followed by transport accidents at 11.3%, including car and motorcycle crashes.
Animal-related injuries, while often associated with spiders or snakes, were mostly caused by dogs—accounting for nearly one-third of the 33,000 hospitalisations from “contact with living things.”
Animal-Related Injury Causes Age-standardised Rate Per 100,000 People
| Rank | Type of living thing | 2023-24 | % of Total |
| 1 | Bitten or struck by a dog | 38.3 | 31.0% |
| 2 | Bitten or struck by other mammals | 18.9 | 15.3% |
| 3 | Bitten or crushed by other reptiles | 8.4 | 6.8% |
| 4 | Contact with allergens, allergy to animals | 6.5 | 5.3% |
| 5 | Contact with venomous snakes | 3.0 | 2.4% |
| 6 | Bitten or stung by a nonvenomous insect or other nonvenomous arthropod | 2.6 | 2.1% |
| 7 | Contact with spiders | 2.1 | 1.7% |
| 8 | Contact with venomous marine animals and plants | 2.1 | 1.7% |
| 9 | Contact with plant thorns and spines, and sharp leaves | 1.5 | 1.2% |
| 10 | Contact with a marine animal | 1.0 | 0.8% |
Men were significantly more likely to be hospitalised across most injury types, with a 36.1% higher admission rate than women. However, women were more likely to be admitted for falls.
Age also played a role:
- Infants (0–4) were most at risk of drowning, choking, burns, and poisoning.
- Young adults (15–24) led in hospitalisations for transport, objects, and electricity-related injuries.
- Seniors (65+) had the highest injury rate overall, particularly from falls.
Interestingly, injuries caused by living things have risen 21.8% over the past decade, possibly due to rising pet ownership and urban expansion.
Burns and thermal injuries required the longest hospital stays (average 4.9 days), followed closely by falls (4.8 days).
On average, men spent 18.4% less time in hospital than women.
