Being overweight and obese is now risking more Australians’ health than smoking according to new data, as a new government dashboard has also highlighted the need for greater investment in type 2 diabetes and chronic conditions.  

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has released a new study, updated diabetes data, and monitoring results for the National Preventive Health Strategy today. 

According to the Australian Burden of Disease Study 2024, an estimated 8.3% of total disease burden in 2024 was due to overweight (including obesity) and 7.6% was due to tobacco use. This was followed by dietary risks (4.8%) and high blood pressure (4.4%). 

The  study estimates the millions of years of healthy life Australians lose because of injury, illness or premature death, measuring over 200 diseases and injuries. 

The data reinforces what AIHW’s Australia’s Health 2024 report revealed earlier this year: that more than one in two Australians live with a chronic condition (often more than one), and nearly one third of chronic condition illness and death can be prevented, reduced or delayed.   

The Burden of Disease report provides estimates of how much of this burden can be attributed to risk factors such as alcohol use, physical inactivity, poor diet, overweight or obesity, and tobacco smoking. 

Australians lost an estimated 5.8 million years of healthy life due to living with disease and dying prematurely in 2024, the AIHW reports. 

Over one-third of the total burden of disease and injury in Australia in 2024 could have been avoided or reduced due to modifiable risk factors.   

The report shows that while Australians are living longer on average, years lived in ill health are also growing. This adds to the pressure on the Australian health system. 

The AIHW have also launched a new monitoring dashboard for the National Preventive Health Strategy, as well as their latest update of diabetes data. 

The dashboard highlights the urgent need for robust, proactive measures to prevent type 2 diabetes and chronic disease from overwhelming our healthcare system. 

The interactive dashboard tracks progress against targets of two key strategies designed to improve the health and wellbeing of Australians.  

The National Preventive Health Strategy 2021-2030 (NPHS) guides a whole-of-government approach to prevention that addresses the wider determinants of health, reduces health inequities and decreases overall burden of disease, while the National Obesity Strategy 2022–2032  is a framework for action to prevent, reduce and treat overweight and obesity, which around 14 million Australians live with. 

The new data dashboard utilises a ‘traffic light’ report card, against each NPHS target, to visualise regress (red), no change (amber), progress (green) or unknown change between at least two data points.  

It identifies factors including that Australians are eating less fruit, and rates of obesity have not declined.  

Other AIHW report updates released yesterday include: 

• Diabetes: Australian facts  
• Heart, stroke and vascular disease: Australian facts 
• Chronic kidney disease: Australian facts