Health conditions and risks

• Over 8 million people reported having a long-term health condition.
• 4,791,516 people had one of the selected long-term health conditions.
• 1,490,344 people had two of the selected long-term health conditions.
• 772,142 people had three or more of the selected long-term health conditions.

• Over three quarters (78.6%) of Australians had at least one long-term health condition in 2020-21
• Nearly half had at least one chronic condition (46.6% or 11.6 million)
• Mental and behavioural conditions (20.1%), Back problems (15.7%) and Arthritis (12.5%) were the most common chronic conditions

• 61.2% of people aged 18 years and over have never smoked
• 10.7% of people aged 18 years and over were current daily smokers
• 9.3% of people aged 18 years and over have used an e-cigarette or vaping device at least once in their lives
• 21.7% of people aged 18-24 years have used an e-cigarette or vaping device at least once

• 27.2% of people aged 15 years and over met the physical activity guidelines[1]
• 73.4% of people aged 18-64 years undertook 150 minutes or more of physical activity in the last week
• Nearly half (49.4%) of employed people aged 18-64 years described their day at work as mostly sitting

• One in four Australians aged 18 years and over exceeded the Australian Adult Alcohol Guideline in 2020-21 (25.8%)
• Men were more likely than women to exceed the guideline (33.6% compared to 18.5%)
• People born in Australia were almost twice as likely as those born overseas to exceed the guideline (30.0% compared to 17.3%)

• Just under 2.7 million (10.7%) Australians had asthma in 2020-21
• One in three people with asthma (34.6%) had a written action plan
• One in three people with asthma (34.9%) used asthma-related medication daily

• 6.1% of adults ate the recommended amount of both fruit and vegetables
• 8.5% of children ate the recommended amount of both fruit and vegetables
• 6.4% of adults consumed sugar sweetened drinks daily
• 1.2% of children consumed diet drinks daily

• One in twenty Australians had diabetes (5.3% or 1.3 million people)
• Males and females had similar rates of diabetes (5.7% and 4.9%)
• The most common type of diabetes was Type 2 diabetes (4.5%)

• Most (95.9%) children aged 0-3 years received breast milk
• One in three (35.4%) were exclusively breastfed to 6 months
• More than half (54.2%) were introduced to solids at 6 months or later

• 43.7% of adults experienced one or more stressors such as illness or bereavement
• Women were more likely to experience one or more stressors compared to men (45.0% compared to 42.2%)
• Seven in ten (71.1%) adults experienced bodily pain in the four weeks prior to the survey

• 14.7 million tonnes of food and non-alcoholic beverages were sold, 1.4% more than in 2019-20
• The increase in weight was primarily driven by greater beverage sales
• Total dietary energy available averaged 8,883 kJ per person per day, down 1.0% from 2019-20
• Discretionary foods contributed 38.1% of total dietary energy available, a slight increase from 2019-20 (37.7%)

• 191.2 million litres of pure alcohol was available for consumption.
• This equates to 9.51 litres of pure alcohol available per person.
• 12.43 litres per person was consumed by the 77% of persons who consumed alcohol last year.

This product presents data on health literacy by population characteristics including age and sex, by geography, health risk factors and status

• 67% of adults were overweight or obese.
• 47% of Australians had one or more chronic conditions.
• Young people aged 18-24 are more likely to have never smoked than a decade ago (75% compared to 64%).
• 4.8 million Australians had a mental or behavioural condition.

• 3.6 million Australians had arthritis.
• Arthritis rates increase with age, particularly for females.
• 924,000 Australians had osteoporosis.
• Osteoporosis was more common amongst females than males (6% compared with 2%).

• 47% of Australians had one or more chronic conditions.
• Over the last decade the prevalence of chronic conditions increased (from 42%).
• Females aged 15 years and over were more likely than males to have a chronic condition (57% compared to 51%).
• The prevalence of chronic conditions increased with age.

• 1.2 million Australians had heart disease.
• Heart disease more common among males than females (5% compared with 4%).
• 27% of all deaths in Australia attributed to diseases of the circulatory system.

• 2.6 million Australians reported having hypertension.
• 74% of all adults with measured high blood pressure did not report having hypertension.
• The prevalence of hypertension was similar for males and females (11%).

• 56% of Australians aged 15 years and over considered themselves to be in excellent or very good health. This has remained constant over the last 10 years.
• 15% of Australians aged 15 years and over reported being in fair or poor health.
• Younger Australians generally rated themselves as having better health than older people.

• Western Australia was the only state with a decrease in daily smoking rates.
• Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania saw increases in overweight or obese adults.
• Physical activity rates varied with the highest proportion being Australian Capital Territory.

• 432,400 Australians had cancer.
• The most commonly reported type of cancer is skin cancer.
• Males were more likely to have cancer than females (2.1% compared with 1.5%).

• 1.5 million Australians had high cholesterol.
• Proportion of people with high cholesterol doubled from age 45-54 years (7%) to 55-64 years (14%).
• 21% of people aged 65 years and over had high cholesterol.

• 67% of adults were overweight or obese, an increase from 63% in 2014-15.
• A greater proportion of men were overweight or obese than women (75% compared with 60%).
• 25% of children were overweight or obese.

• 25% of children aged 5-17 years were overweight or obese.
• 6% of children met both the fruit and vegetables recommendations.
• 9% of adults and 7% of children consume sugar sweetened drinks daily.
• 45% of children aged 2-17 years usually consume either sugar sweetened drink or diet drinks at least once per week.

State and territory breakdown of average intakes of foods, nutrients and proportion of nutrients from food groups

Provides information on Australians consumption of dietary supplements from the 2011-12 National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey

Provides a distributional analysis of usual nutrient consumption enabling population assessment of intakes against the Nutrient Reference Values

Provides a snapshot of food and nutrient consumption. Analysis and datacubes include average consumption and proportion derived from each food group

Presents information on selected biomarkers for nutrition, including iodine, folate, Vitamin B12 and iron

Information on biomarkers of chronic disease, including prevalence rates for risk factors for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and kidney function

Physical activity results from the 2011-13 Australian Health Survey, presented with selected population characteristics and health risk factors