Census 2021: How we’re sicker in the country

THE 2021 Census collected information on diagnosed long-term health conditions for the first time and the news wasn’t good in regional areas.

Over two million people across Australia reported having at least one of the following conditions - mental health (2,231,543), arthritis (2,150,396) or asthma (2,068,020), with these being the most reported long-term health conditions.

And while 61 per cent of people in Victoria reported having no long-term health conditions, the figure was 10 per cent worse in Bass Coast with only 51.2 per cent saying they have no health issues, 53.7 per cent in South Gippsland and 54.2 per cent in Baw Baw.

With a higher age demographic than average, the incidence of arthritis is higher in regional areas including Baw Baw 11.2% (6449 people), South Gippsland 12.% (3743) and Bass Coast 13.5% (5524) as against the state average of 8%.

But the incidence of asthma, cancer, diabetes and heart disease is also higher in country areas.

Of those who reported long-term health conditions, 1835 people in Bass Coast have cancer (4.5%), 1224 have cancer in South Gippsland (4%) an 2056 in Baw Baw (3.6%) as compared with just 2.8% of those with health conditions in other areas.

Heart disease is another problem in regional areas with 2592 people in Bass Coast (6.4%) reporting heart problems as compared to the state average of 3.7%. In South Gippsland 1770 have heart problems (5.8%) and 2874 in Baw Baw (5%).

Almost 4.8 million (4,791,516) people across Australia reported having one of the ten long-term health conditions listed on the Census form, while nearly 1.5 million (1,490,344) had two of these health conditions and over 750,000 (772,142) had three or more of these long-term health conditions.

A further one million (1,009,836) indicated that they had at least one other long-term health condition that was not listed on the form.

In Bass Coast for example 9187 people said they had one of the health conditions listed (22.5%), South Gippsland 6747 (22.1%) and Baw Baw 12,836 (21.8%).

The proportion of those with a long-term health condition increased with age.

More than three out of every five (62.9 per cent) people aged 65+ reported having at least one long-term health condition compared with one out of every five (22.1 per cent) 15–34 year olds.

Females were more likely to report a long-term health condition than males, with 34 per cent (33.9 per cent) of females having one or more long-term health conditions compared with 30 per cent (29.5 per cent) of males.

Males most commonly reported asthma and mental health conditions, while the most commonly reported long term health conditions reported by females were arthritis and mental health conditions.

Asthma is the most commonly reported health condition for 0–14 year olds, with a notable difference between male children with 7.4 per cent reporting asthma compared to 5.3 per cent of female children.

Census data on long-term health conditions can be split by other characteristics such as geography, cultural background or family type.

For example, the 2021 Census shows over half of people born in Greece (56.1 per cent) and Italy (53.7 per cent) reported one or more long-term health conditions.

Dr David Gruen AO, Australian Statistician, said “For the first time, we have data on long-term health conditions across the whole population. This is critical data to inform planning and service delivery decisions about how treatment and care is provided for all Australians.”

“Census data will help provide a more detailed picture of Australians’ health. Census data complements existing ABS health surveys by providing additional insights about the communities that require services to support complex health needs”.

For further information, explore the data at www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data.