Overview

The Australian Burden of Disease Study 2018 provides updated estimates for over 200 diseases and injuries in Australia for 2018, 2015, 2011 and 2003.

Burden of disease measures the impact of living with illness and injury and dying prematurely. The summary measure ‘disability-adjusted life years’ (or DALY) measures the years of healthy life lost from death and illness.

The most recent available burden of disease data for the Australian population are presented in Australian Burden of Disease Study: impact and causes of illness and death in Australia 2018. There is also a Summary report and Key findings report. Detailed estimates from the Australian Burden of Disease Study 2018 can be found under Disease burden: interactive data and Risk factors: interactive data.

Burden of disease estimates for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population are presented in Australian Burden of Disease Study: impact and causes of illness and death in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 2018, along with a Summary report and Key findings report. The detailed results can be explored at Disease burden among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: interactive data and Risk factor burden among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: interactive data.

As this study (ABDS 2018) provides estimates of disease burden for the 2018 reference year, estimates of the burden due to COVID-19 are not included. However, as part of a separate project, AIHW calculated estimates of the fatal and non-fatal burden due to COVID-19 in Australia for 2020. These estimates have been published in a synthesis report on the direct and indirect health effects of COVID-19 in Australia.

Featured reports

See all reports

Latest findings

38% of disease burden could have been avoided or reduced, being due to the modifiable risk factors included in the study

5 million years of healthy life were lost in 2018

Cancers were the group of diseases causing the most burden in 2018

The rate of burden in Indigenous Australians decreased by 15% between 2003 and 2018

The gap in burden between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians narrowed by 16% between 2003 and 2018

Coronary heart disease was the leading individual disease contributing to burden in Indigenous Australians in 2018

Highlights

What is burden of disease?
5 million years of healthy life were lost in 2018
Australians suffered more burden from living with illness (52% of total burden) than from premature death (48%)
13%reduction in total burden rates between 2003 and 2018
38%of disease burden in 2018 was preventable and due to modifiable risk factors included in the Study
Risk factors contributing the most burden were tobacco use and overweight (including obesity)
Top 5 diseasescausing burden in 2018: coronary heart disease, back pain, dementia, COPD, and lung cancer
1.4 times the rate of disease burden was experienced in Remote and very remote areas combined compared with Major cities