Obesity Overtakes Smoking as Australia's Top Health Threat

Being overweight has overtaken smoking as Australia's primary health risk factor, revealed sources (1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
Overweight and obesity

Go to source). The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) published its annual Australian Burden of Disease Study for 2024. It is estimated that Australians lost a combined 5.8 million years of healthy life due to living with disease and dying prematurely in 2024, reports Xinhua news agency.

Tobacco use was previously the leading risk factor, but the AIHW said its burden of disease has declined 41 percent since 2003."

Decline in Smoking, Rise in Obesity

This fall is likely due to declines in smoking prevalence," AIHW spokesperson Michelle Gourley said in a statement. The study attributed 8.3 percent of Australia's total disease burden in 2024 to the risk factor of being overweight, with tobacco use responsible for 7.6 percent and all dietary risks for 4.8 percent.

A separate report published by the AIHW in June found that 66 percent of Australian adults and 26 percent of children and adolescents were overweight or obese in 2022. Cancer remained the leading group of diseases causing burden in 2024, accounting for 16.4 percent of the national loss of healthy life.

For young Australians, mental health conditions, suicide and self-inflicted injuries were the leading contributors of disease burden.

Reference:

1. Overweight and obesity - (https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/overweight-obesity/overweight-and-obesity/contents/about)

Source-IANS