Every year in Australia, millions of years of healthy life are lost because of injury, illness or premature deaths. This loss of healthy life is called the ‘burden of disease’. This report includes national estimates for 220 diseases and injuries as well as estimates of the disease burden attributed to 20 individual risk factors in 2024.

Key findings

• Living with illness or injury accounts for just over half of the overall disease burden.
• In 2024, Australians lost 5.8 million years of healthy life, due to:
  • living with illness or injury (non-fatal): 54% of total burden
  • dying prematurely (fatal): 46% of total burden.
• Between 2003 and 2024 there was a 39% increase in the total number of disability-adjusted life years (DALY) which was mainly due to increases in population size.
• After adjusting for population ageing, there was an 10% decline in the rate of total burden between 2003 and 2024.
• Some of this difference may be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic which had both direct and indirect health effects.
• Overweight, including obesity, overtook tobacco use as the leading risk factor in 2024, driven by a substantial fall (41%) in the age-standardised rate of total burden attributable to tobacco use since 2003.