Pimpama rates among the state’s most deadly suburbs

ONE Gold Coast suburb has the dubious title of being one of the most deadly places to live in Queensland, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. SEE THE SUBURB-BY-SUBURB LIST

PIMPAMA has been revealed as one of the most deadly places in Queensland, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

An in-depth suburb by suburb report on death rates shows Pimpama locals have been dying at more than twice the rate of the rest of the Gold Coast.

Pimpama death rates are the highest in the state, second only to Riverview in Brisbane which has a rate of 12.4. PICTURE: BRENDAN RADKE

The study, which looks at the standardised number of deaths per 1000, found Pimpama’s rate of 11.4 well above the city’s rate of 5.1 and the Australian rate of 6.5.

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Southport North, Merrimac, Currumbin Valley, Labrador and Varsity Lakes also rated above the national standard.

The Gold Coast also had a higher rate of deaths due to injury, at 53.9 per 100,000 persons compared to the Queensland rate of 45.8.

The standardised death rates are calculated by working out the number of deaths compared to the population, while taking into account age groups and sex.

ABS assistant director of demographics Shahid Ullah said the rates alone could not explain the reasons behind Pimpama’s high death rate, which has sat above 10 since 2011.

“A large number of elderly in the data set may explain a spike in certain areas, which is the case for Tasmania and South Australia,” he said.

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He was unable to give reasons though for what was happening in Pimpama.

Coomera MP Michael Crandon, whose electorate covers Pimpama, said he was surprised by the figures given the average age of the area was 27.

An aerial photograph of Pimpama in 2018. Photo: Nearmap

“Pimpama has a high number of tradesmen and young families, so I am surprised.

“Over 44 per cent of the population is under 24 so if you were speculating you could put it down to the accident bubble — a term used in insurance that covers the age group under 31 years more prone to accidents,” he said.

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“Otherwise Pimpama has no more anomalies than elsewhere.”

However other ABS data shows a third of deaths in the region were found to be due to coronary artery disease in people over 75.

Gold Coast population profiler Mark Weblin agreed the younger population was generally more risk prone.

“As someone who has looked at the statistics in the Gold Coast, it is really easy to generalise who we are as a community at first glance, but when you look at the statistics you realise we are incredibly diverse.

“We have some of the poorest suburbs in the state next to some of the most affluent,” he said.

“You could speculate that there are two reasons such a young population may have rated so highly.

“Young men are generally risk takers and are also the most prone to suicide, which was revealed to be increasing nationally.

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“The suburb (Pimpama) is also one that is under a lot of mortgage stress.

“At this stage however more figures are needed to determine why.”

Mr Weblin has previously hosted “death cafes’’ – places that offer a way to start having conversations about the “taboo subject’’ so that people can make appropriate plans.

“People might be a bit shocked by the figures because we don’t generally talk about death like it is an everyday part of life,” he said.

“Unfortunately we tend to regard death as a taboo so we never plan for it – the little things like what it means for you personally or what words you would like on your headstone.

“Discussion is an important way to air any of these issues,” he said.

Overall in 2017 the death rate decreased nationally to 6.5 deaths per 1000 from 6.6 in 2016.