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, Rural & remote Australians and Children & youth.

Latest findings

Diabetes death rate for men and women in lowest education group 2.7 times as high as highest group in 2016 Gap in male CVD death rates widening, with greater falls over time for highest socioeconomic group 19,700 fewer heart attacks if all had same rate as highest socioeconomic group in 2016 8,600 fewer CVD deaths, 6,900 diabetes and 4,800 CKD if all had same death rate as highest socioeconomic group in 2016 Socioeconomically disadvantaged have, on average, higher rates of CVD, diabetes and CKD

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Highlights

Ratesof death vary by level of education, with the probability of dying in 2011 decreasing as education levels increased
Dailysmoking was higher among people who were unemployed than those who were employed in 2019 (20% compared with 11%)
IndigenousAustralian adults who were not employed were less likely to meet physical activity guidelines than those who were employed in 2018–19
Healthliteracy is higher in those with higher education and people with low health literacy are at higher risk of worse health outcomes
Babiesborn to mothers in the lowest socioeconomic areas were 1.6 times as likely to have a low birthweight as those in the highest areas in 2018
The Incidenceof both heart attack and stroke increases with increasing socioeconomic disadvantage
The injurydeath rate for children in Outer regional, remote and very remote areas was 3 times as high as for those in Major cities during 2013–2017