Canberra, July 9 (IANS). Chronic and mental illnesses are increasingly impacting people’s health in Australia. This information has been revealed in the Australia Health Report 2026 of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AISW) released on Thursday.
In this report, which is released every two years, it was told that chronic and mental health related problems are continuously increasing in the country.
According to the report, in 2022, 61 percent of Australia’s population i.e. 1.54 crore people were living with at least one chronic disease. Whereas 38 percent people were suffering from two or more chronic diseases.
According to AISW, Australians will lose approximately 4.9 million (4.9 million) healthy life years due to chronic diseases in 2024. This accounts for 84 percent of the total disease burden in the country.
The five largest causes of disease burden in 2024 were all chronic diseases, the report said. Among these, dementia emerged as the biggest cause of death in Australia for the first time.
Earlier, in the data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, it was said that in 2024, 9.4 percent of the total deaths in the country were due to dementia, while 8.7 percent deaths were recorded due to heart disease.
According to the report, deaths from dementia have increased by 39 percent between 2015 and 2024, while deaths from heart disease have decreased by 18 percent over the same period. AIHW Chief Executive Officer Joran Bolevich attributed this to Australia’s aging population.
According to the report, in 2022, 22 percent of people in the age group of 16 to 85 years reported that they faced some mental health problem in the last 12 months. At the same time, the rate of mental health problems among youth aged 16 to 24 years has increased from 26 percent in 2007 to 39 percent in 2022.
However, the report also said that despite these challenges, the quality of life of people continues to improve due to health services in Australia. The average life expectancy for women during 2022-24 was recorded at 85.1 years and for men at 81.1 years.
Additionally, the five-year survival rate for cancer patients in Australia has also steadily improved. It was 50 percent in 1987-1991, which increased to 72 percent during 2017-2021.
–IANS
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