Obesity has overtaken tobacco as the leading health risk factor for Australians.
The latest Australian Burden of Disease Study found people living with being overweight, including obesity, overtook tobacco use as the leading risk factor in 2024.
Released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) the report found the change was driven by a substantial fall (41 percent) in the age-standardised rate of total burden attributable to tobacco use since 2003.
AIHW spokesperson Michelle Gourley said the study estimated the millions of years of healthy life Australians lost because of injury, illness or premature death, measuring over 200 diseases and injuries.
Ms Gourley said the report also estimated how much of this disease burden could be attributed to 20 individual risk factors such as alcohol use, physical inactivity, poor diet, overweight or obesity and tobacco smoking.
“Australians lost an estimated 5.8 million years of healthy life due to living with disease and dying prematurely in 2024,” she said.
“Over one-third of the total burden of disease and injury in Australia in 2024 could have been avoided or reduced due to modifiable risk factors included in the study.”
Ms Gourley said the drop in burden attributed to tobacco was likely due to declines in smoking prevalence and burden rates from some of the major linked diseases, such as lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
She said an estimated 8.3 percent of total disease burden in 2024 was due to overweight (including obesity) and 7.6 percent was due to tobacco use (excluding vaping).
“This was followed by dietary risks (4.8 percent) and high blood pressure (4.4 percent).”
Ms Gourley said alcohol use and illicit drug use were the leading risk factors contributing to disease burden for young males aged 15–24, while child abuse and neglect was the leading risk factor contributing to burden for young females of the same age.
She said when looking at rates of total disease burden, there was a 10 percent decrease between 2003 and 2024 after adjusting for population ageing.
“While Australians are living longer on average, years lived in ill health are also growing, resulting in little change in the proportion of life spent in full health. This contributes to the growing demand and pressures on the health system and services.”
Read the full report: Australian Burden of Disease Study 2024.
