Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Data on causes of death (COD) provide information on mortality patterns and form a major element of public health information.
COD data refer to the underlying cause which - according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) - is "the disease or injury which initiated the train of morbid events leading directly to death, or the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury".
Causes of death are classified by the 86 causes of the "European shortlist" of causes of death. This shortlist is based on the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD).
COD data are derived from death certificates. The medical certification of death is an obligation in all Member States. Countries code the information provided in the medical certificate of cause of death into ICD codes according to the rules specified in the ICD.
3.2. Classification system
Eurostat's CoD statistics build on standards set out by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD).
The regional breakdown is based on the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS 2).
Classification and updates applied by years
3.3. Coverage - sector
Public Health.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
Concepts and definitions are described in the Commission regulation (EU) No 328/2011 in articles 2 and 3.
3.4.1. National definition used for usual residency
The place of usual residence is approximated by the place of main registered main residence. In Austria only people registered with a main residence for 3 months or more are collected; The Austrian definition is based on the Recommendations on Statistics of International Migration from the United Nations (Statistical Papers No. 58, Rev. 1. 1998).
3.4.2. Stillbirth definition and characteristics collected
The national definition used for stillbirths is the WHO-definition: 500 grams or more and no signs of life.
The characteristics collected are: gestational age, weight, crown-heel lenght.
3.5. Statistical unit
The statistical units are the deceased persons and the stillborns, respectively.
3.6. Statistical population
Residents, non-residents and stillbirths.
3.6.1. Neonates of non-resident mothers
Neonatals of non-resident mothers are not considered as residents.
3.6.2. Non-residents
Data of non-residents are submitted to ESTAT. They are also stored in the national database but not published.
3.6.3. Residents dying abroad
Residents dying abroad are published, the cause of death is coded with R99.
3.7. Reference area
Austrian territory.
3.8. Coverage - Time
Time series available from 1994 onwards.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
The unit is an absolute number.
2024.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
The Austrian Cause of Death Registry has fully implemented the IRIS system, with its associated rules and guidelines for selection of underlying cause of death, for routine coding.
If the medical data is incomplete additional information is requested from the institution where the certificate was issued.
The quality management is documented in the handbook of quality (only in german, summary in english). Publications online: (Causes of death). Please look under "Dokumentation".
11.1. Quality assurance
The causes of death data are based on a regulation, which defines scope, definitions of variables and characteristics of the data.
The Austrian Cause of Death Registry has fully implemented the IRIS system, with its associated rules and guidelines for selection of underlying cause of death, for routine coding.
If the medical data is incomplete additional information is requested from the institution where the certificate was issued.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Not available.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
The Austrian Cause of Death Registry is needed for the following purposes:
Monitoring causes of death over time;
Preparation of national, regional and local statistics related to causes of death;
Research;
Planning, quality assurance and quality impovement in the Health and Care Services.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not available.
12.3. Completeness
All compulsory variables are available.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
For mandatory variables: 100%
For voluntary variables:-
For additional variables:
External CoD 100%;
Place of occurrence for external CoD 100%;
Activity for external CoD -.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
High accuracy for death occurred in Austria, legal obligation to provide a death certificate for every death that occurred in Austria. The statistic has a high quality, because the most important information comes from the civil registries which have high accuracy and reliability due to the nature of their documentation system. The quality of mortality statistics thus depends directly on the quality of the information given by the doctors. This depends on the amount of the medical information that the certifying doctor has. In most cases clinical information is used to describe death. In less than 10% of the cases an autopsy is done.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not applicable.
13.3.1. Coverage error
Not applicable. Data collection is from administrative sources.
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Not applicable. Data collection is from administrative sources.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
Not applicable. Data collection is from administrative sources.
13.3.2. Measurement error
Not applicable. Data collection is from administrative sources.
13.3.3. Non response error
Not applicable. Data collection is from administrative sources.
13.3.3.1. Unit non-response - rate
Not applicable. Data collection is from administrative sources.
13.3.3.2. Item non-response - rate
Not applicable. Data collection is from administrative sources.
13.3.4. Processing error
Not applicable. Data collection is from administrative sources.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
From data collection with reference year 2011 onwards, Eurostat asks for the submission of final data for the year N at N+24 months.
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
Not applicable.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
Not applicable.
14.2. Punctuality
The data for the reference year 2024 have been delivered in October 2024.
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
The data for the reference year 2024 have been delivered in October 2024.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
The data are comparable for all territorial regions in the country. The process of collecting, coding and transmission of the data is the same for all regions.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Coding procedures changed over time in Austria:
Adaptation to WHO certificate in 2004.
ICD versions: Since the 2016 reporting year (with the implementation of the international electronic coding program IRIS) the 2013 version of ICD-10 has been used. The version 1.3 of ICD-10 used prior to this was recoded accordingly in order to be able to offer a time series that is retroactively comparable up to the year 2002. For periods up to and including 2001, the following ICD revisions apply: ICD-9 (1980-2001), ICD-8 (1969-1979), ICD-7 (1959-1968), ICD-6 (1953-1958), ICD-5 (previous to 1953).
automatic coding systems : IRIS from 2015 (partly) until nowadays (full use since 2019).
The impact of formal and technical changes in Cause of Death statistics cannot be measured.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Considering evolution of ICD versions in use the comparable time series start at 2002 up to now (ICD 10 Version 2013).
For the European short list the comparable time series start at 1970 up to now.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
The Causes of death data are compared with the data on the population. Comparisons between hospital discharge records and cause of death statistics are not possible due to the fact that matching these data is not allowed by law.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable, only annual data are available.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Since 2002, the Central Register of supplies (ZMR) quarterly stock figures and changing masses, which are widely adopted in an anonymous population register. Since then inconsistencies are reported as correction of population data.
The cost and burden of the data collection is reduced by using validation and dissemination IT tools.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Not applicable.
17.2. Data revision - practice
There is no systematic revision of previous year data.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not applicable.
18.1. Source data
In 2010, the Austrian government decided to create a central civil registry (Zentrales Personenstandsregister - ZPR) in order to simplify related administrative procedures. This registry started operations in November 2014. The use of the ZPR is compulsory for civil registration offices nationwide. With the introduction of the ZPR, the opportunity was taken to envisage ways of also transmitting electronic information on the causes of death as provided by hospitals or death-certifying physicians. According to the new civil registration law, with the implementation of the ZPR hospitals and death-certifying physicians outside hospitals are obliged to send death certificates electronically (not only demographic information, but also the medical part) unless they lack the necessary technical equipment. Death-certifying physicians outside hospitals also have to transmit data electronically unless they lack the necessary technical equipment.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Data are collected continously since the implementation of the ZPR.
18.3. Data collection
In Austria, unicausal cause-of-death statistics is done, i.e. the underlying cause of death is selected from the data on the death certificate and only this is coded. This is done according to the international regulations of the World Health Organization (WHO). The Death certificate is the basis for the Austrian cause of death statistics. In order to contribute to the improvement and harmonization of international Cause of Death statistics, the Austrian certificate was adapted to the specifications and recommendations of the WHO and the European Commission as of March 3, 2004. All information provided on the certificate is subject to statistical secrecy (Bundesstatistikgesetz 2000, § 17) and will not be disclosed to survivors, insurance companies or administrative institutions. The death certificate is handed over by the physician (or the mortician) to the registry offices, which, after registering the death, forward it to Statistics Austria. The training in certification is part of the medical education. Based on the information on the certificate, the causes of death are determined using the "International Statistical Classification of Diseases and related health problems 10th revision" (ICD 10). Using special coding guidelines, the underlying condition that is included in the statistics is determined by specially trained staff at STATISTIK AUSTRIA. The coders are trained on an ongoing basis. If the information on the death certificate is unclear, the doctors who filled it out are contacted. If an autopsy was performed, the results are queried and included in the cause of death statistics.
18.3.1. Certification
Table on certification (Percentage)
18.3.2. Automated Coding
Not applicable
18.3.3. Underlying cause of death
The underlying cause of death is selected from the data on the death certificate and only this is coded.
18.3.4. Availability of multiple cause
Not available
18.3.5. Stillbirths and Neonatal certificates
For stillbirths there is a different death certificate.
There is no certificate for neonatal deaths; for neonatal deaths the data of the certificate of birth and the data of the certificate of death are merged.
18.4. Data validation
Since 2009 all deaths of Austrian residents outside Austria are included in the publications. These cases are coded with ICD-Code R99.
Since the start of the ZPR (Zentrales Personenstandsregister) the civil registration system is centralized and the personal information of a dead person will be sent electronically. As the ZPR is based on the ZMR (Zentrales Melderegister) the information in both systems will adjust continously.
18.4.1. Coding
Description of coding procedure (central level, distributed among other bodies, etc.): central level
Description of the procedures to detect errors (i.e.errors such as potential inconsistency in the death certificate or error due to mistake when filling the deaths certificates): contacting the doctor when inconsistencies are seen during the coding process
Description of the measures taken in order to solve detected errors: reject within the automatic coding system, then contacting the doctor
Coding performed by a certifier: no, doctors have to fill in the text
Estimation of the percentage of autopsy from which information is available for coding at the stage of arrival of the certificate: nine out of death certificates have all informations ready at first arrival, the rest is delivered ongoing up to the finalisation of the yearly data
Description of double coding exercises and rate of codification errors for underlying cause of death: there is no double coding performed since the automated coding system is in place; all corona cases are reviewed again by the head coder after coding.
18.4.2. Unspecified CoD code
Unspecified CoD codes for the underlying cause (% of the Total)
18.4.3. Unknown country or region
In 2014 electronic registration started and more non-resident certificates came in, nevertheless a high percentage of unknown recidencies are still there.
18.4.4. Validation of the coverage
Since 2009 all deaths of Austrian residents outside Austria are included in the publications. These cases are coded with ICD-Code R99.
Since the start of the ZPR (Zentrales Personenstandsregister) the civil registration system is centralized and the personal information of a dead person will be sent electronically. As the ZPR is based on the ZMR (Zentrales Melderegister) the information in both systems will adjust continously.
18.5. Data compilation
ICD-Codes are aggregated according to the Eurostat-short-list of causes of death groups.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
Not applicable.
18.6. Adjustment
On data entry level several plausibility tests on each variable are performed, mainly on the ICD-Codes. The ICD-Codes are tested according to the ICD-Version used, the sex and age of the deceased. Additionall tests are done on the ICD-Codes of external causes. If errors occur, the cases are checked by the head coder and, if necessary, changed by the project management.
Data on causes of death (COD) provide information on mortality patterns and form a major element of public health information.
COD data refer to the underlying cause which - according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) - is "the disease or injury which initiated the train of morbid events leading directly to death, or the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury".
Causes of death are classified by the 86 causes of the "European shortlist" of causes of death. This shortlist is based on the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD).
COD data are derived from death certificates. The medical certification of death is an obligation in all Member States. Countries code the information provided in the medical certificate of cause of death into ICD codes according to the rules specified in the ICD.
11 November 2025
Concepts and definitions are described in the Commission regulation (EU) No 328/2011 in articles 2 and 3.
The statistical units are the deceased persons and the stillborns, respectively.
Residents, non-residents and stillbirths.
Austrian territory.
2024.
High accuracy for death occurred in Austria, legal obligation to provide a death certificate for every death that occurred in Austria. The statistic has a high quality, because the most important information comes from the civil registries which have high accuracy and reliability due to the nature of their documentation system. The quality of mortality statistics thus depends directly on the quality of the information given by the doctors. This depends on the amount of the medical information that the certifying doctor has. In most cases clinical information is used to describe death. In less than 10% of the cases an autopsy is done.
The unit is an absolute number.
ICD-Codes are aggregated according to the Eurostat-short-list of causes of death groups.
In 2010, the Austrian government decided to create a central civil registry (Zentrales Personenstandsregister - ZPR) in order to simplify related administrative procedures. This registry started operations in November 2014. The use of the ZPR is compulsory for civil registration offices nationwide. With the introduction of the ZPR, the opportunity was taken to envisage ways of also transmitting electronic information on the causes of death as provided by hospitals or death-certifying physicians. According to the new civil registration law, with the implementation of the ZPR hospitals and death-certifying physicians outside hospitals are obliged to send death certificates electronically (not only demographic information, but also the medical part) unless they lack the necessary technical equipment. Death-certifying physicians outside hospitals also have to transmit data electronically unless they lack the necessary technical equipment.
Annual.
From data collection with reference year 2011 onwards, Eurostat asks for the submission of final data for the year N at N+24 months.
The data are comparable for all territorial regions in the country. The process of collecting, coding and transmission of the data is the same for all regions.
Coding procedures changed over time in Austria:
Adaptation to WHO certificate in 2004.
ICD versions: Since the 2016 reporting year (with the implementation of the international electronic coding program IRIS) the 2013 version of ICD-10 has been used. The version 1.3 of ICD-10 used prior to this was recoded accordingly in order to be able to offer a time series that is retroactively comparable up to the year 2002. For periods up to and including 2001, the following ICD revisions apply: ICD-9 (1980-2001), ICD-8 (1969-1979), ICD-7 (1959-1968), ICD-6 (1953-1958), ICD-5 (previous to 1953).
automatic coding systems : IRIS from 2015 (partly) until nowadays (full use since 2019).
The impact of formal and technical changes in Cause of Death statistics cannot be measured.
