Being overweight surpasses smoking as Australia's leading health risk

Being overweight has become the leading risk factor contributing to disease in Australia for the first time, according to government data.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) on Thursday 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.

It found that 36 per cent of the loss of healthy life, called the burden of disease, could have been avoided or reduced due to modifiable risk factors.

Being overweight, including obesity, was identified by the AIHW as the leading modifiable risk factor.

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

"This fall is likely due to declines in smoking prevalence," AIHW spokesperson Michelle Gourley said in a statement.

The study attributed 8.3 per cent of Australia's total disease burden in 2024 to the risk factor of being overweight, with tobacco use responsible for 7.6 per cent and all dietary risks for 4.8 per cent.

A separate report published by the AIHW in June found that 66 per cent of Australian adults and 26 per cent of children and adolescents were overweight or obese in 2022.

Thursday's report found that cancer remained the leading group of diseases causing burden in 2024, accounting for 16.4 per cent 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.