Overview

Determinants of health are factors that influence how likely we are to stay healthy or to become ill or injured. Many of the key drivers of health reside in our everyday living and working conditions—the circumstances in which we grow, live, work and age. These social determinants can strengthen or undermine the health of individuals and communities.

More reports and statistics on social determinants can be found under Men & women and Rural & remote Australians.

Latest findings

There would have been 71,400 fewer male deaths from 2009–2011 if males had the same mortality rate as females The lowest socioeconomic group had mortality rates that were 1.3 times as high as the highest socioeconomic group Gap in male CVD death rates widening, with greater falls over time for highest socioeconomic group Indigenous Australians aged 35–44 have mortality rates 5 times as high as non-Indigenous Australians of the same age Males have a mortality rate that is 1.5 times as high as females Overseas-born Australian residents on average had lower mortality rates than Australian-born residents 19,700 fewer heart attacks if all had same rate as highest socioeconomic group in 2016 Socioeconomically disadvantaged have, on average, higher rates of CVD, diabetes and CKD Indigenous Australians mortality rate was nearly 2 times as high as non-Indigenous Australians 8,600 fewer CVD deaths, 6,900 diabetes and 4,800 CKD if all had same death rate as highest socioeconomic group in 2016 Diabetes death rate for men and women in lowest education group 2.7 times as high as highest group in 2016 Higher rates of preventable or treatable deaths were observed in Australians with the worst mortality rates Remote and Very remote areas had mortality rates that were 1.4 times as high as Major cities

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Highlights

54,000 fewer deathswould occur if all Australians had the same death rates as people living in the highest socioeconomic areas in 2009–2011
Unemploymentis a major risk factor for substance use and the subsequent development of substance use disorders
Indigenous Australianswho were unemployed had higher rates of smoking, substance use and poor diet than those who were employed
3 timesthe rate of low birthweight babies were born to mothers in the lowest socioeconomic areas compared with the highest socioeconomic areas in 2014
Dependent childrenfrom the lowest socioeconomic areas are 3.6 times as likely to be exposed to tobacco smoke in the home as those from the highest socioeconomic areas