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.

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Latest findings

Older Australians living alone had lower rates of overweight or obesity than those living as a couple

In 2011–12 and 2014–15, adult obesity was 1.3 times higher for those paying rent as for those who owned their home

Children had higher rates of overweight or obesity if their parent had not completed secondary school

Waist circumference risk was 1.4 times higher in Outer regional and Remote areas than Major cities in 2 survey years

Adult overweight or obesity was about 1.2 times higher for those paying off a mortgage than those who owned their home

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