Dementia has overtaken heart disease as the leading cause of death across Australia, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
There were more than 17,500 deaths from dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, in 2024 — making it the cause of 9.4 per cent of deaths nationwide.
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For those aged 75 years and over, dementia was responsible for 95 per cent of deaths.
ABS head of mortality statistics Lauren Mohan said the number of deaths caused by dementia had risen by 39 per cent over the past decade.
“People are now more likely to live to an age where they have a higher risk of developing dementia,” she said.
Ischaemic heart diseases — conditions where the heart is starved of oxygen — have reached their lowest rate since the ABS began recording the data a decade ago.
The number of deaths due to ischaemic heart diseases has decreased by 18.3 per cent since 2015.
For premature deaths, which the ABS defines as anyone aged between one and 78 years old, the leading causes of death were suicide and coronary heart disease.
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In 2024, 68.2 per cent of deaths occurred in those aged over 75 years.
An ageing population, according to the ABS report, means “patterns of mortality” have changed.
“While the leading causes of death for those aged over 75 years closely resemble the [overall] population, some diseases present differently,” the report said.
“Mortality in this age group has become more complex.”
Dementia was the leading cause of death for men aged over 85, while for men aged 75-84, ischaemic heart diseases remained the leading cause of death.
There were 16,620 deaths from dementia among the 75 and over age group.
However, Ms Mohan said some of the increase could be attributed to population growth, as well as doctors being more likely to record dementia on a death certificate.
“When we look at it from a death-rate point of view, it’s more steady,” she said.
“It is mostly occurring in women, so 62 per cent were deaths in women.
“What we’re seeing … is that deaths are much more complex now, so people are living longer.
“Women and men have both had increasing life expectancies over a long period of time and so people are likely to have far more conditions listed on their death certificate.
“They’re living with a lot more chronic diseases and so a very complex pathway to death is presenting when we’re having a look at it.”
The national life expectancy was 81.1 years old for men and 85.1 years for women in 2022-2024, according to an ABS report earlier this month.Â
As of 2020-2022, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life expectancy was 71.9 years for men and 75.6 years for women.Â
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She noted people with dementia were also likely to be living with coronary heart disease, hypertension and even some cancers.
Approximately 80 per cent of people who died from dementia had other diseases and conditions listed on their death certificate.
“We’re also commonly asked, ‘How do people die from dementia?'” she added.
“And what we see is a lot of issues with swallowing [so] we may see aspiration pneumonia, kidney failure, those really direct causes that are related to issues with swallowing … or having that weakened immune system.”
The data highlighted a need to invest in public health and dementia risk reduction, Dementia Australia chief executive Tanya Buchanan said.
“There are currently an estimated 433,300 Australians living with dementia,” she said.
“And without significant intervention, this number is expected to increase to more than 1 million by 2065. We need to act on dementia now.”
She called for an increase in awareness of the condition and a reduction in stigma.
“Although there are things we cannot change, like getting older or genetics, we now know that up to 45 per cent of dementia cases globally could be prevented or delayed by addressing modifiable risk factors.”
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In total, there were 187,268 registered deaths in 2024, an increase of 4,137 since 2023.
For age groups 15-24, 25-34, and 35-44 years old, intentional self-harm remained the leading cause of death.
The median age of death was 82 years old.
The third leading cause of death “for the first time since 1996” — behind dementia and ischaemic heart diseases — was ischaemic respiratory diseases.
Ms Mohan noted some of the data was not surprising.
“Because what we tend to see … when we have a more severe flu season or other strains of viruses circulating, [is] a corresponding peak in chronic lower respiratory diseases,” she said.
“That’s probably an infectious exacerbation of managing that chronic respiratory condition.”
Accidental falls were the leading external cause of death and the eighth leading cause overall.
For those aged 75 years and over, there were 4,559 deaths from accidental falls.
According to the ABS, the leading causes of death varied based on the “remoteness” of each area.
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The ABS classifies “remoteness” based on the relative access to services including health care.
“Often somebody living in a [remote] area has other risk factors, so they may be more likely to be in the lower socio-economic status,” Ms Mohan said.
“The population sizes are much smaller, and often they’re much younger. In our remote and very remote areas we have higher populations [of] Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
“Dementia is the leading cause in major cities and inner regional [areas], but in those outer regional, remote and very remote areas, it’s actually the ischaemic heart diseases.”
The ABS also noted there were 5,603 deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) people registered.
For ATSI people, ischaemic heart diseases and chronic lower respiratory diseases remained the leading causes of death.
Suicide, alcohol and drug-induced deaths all increase nationwide
For the first time, the ABS identified a number of occupations found most at risk of suicide.
A total of 3,307 people died by suicide in 2024, with men accounting for just over 75 per cent of those deaths.
The ABS noted it was expected that number would increase as more coronial information became available.Â
It was both the 16th leading cause of death nationwide and the leading cause of premature death, with those who died by suicide having a median age of just 46 years old.
“That did vary across states and territories,” Ms Mohan said.
“The NT actually had the highest suicide rate, followed by Queensland and Tasmania, and the ACT had the lowest suicide rate.”
Among those listed, “technician and trade worker” was the most prevalent occupation, followed by “professionals” and “labourers”.
Ms Mohan noted the ABS had also identified a series of risk factors, including mood disorders, substance abuse, relationship problems and more.
Suicide Prevention Australia chief executive Nieves Murray said the numbers were “unacceptable”.
“[The yearly increase] is more than a classroom of students, a busload of people, or an entire family every month,” she said.
“In addition to the lives lost, over 55,000 people attempt suicide every year.
“That’s 150 people per day; one person every 10 minutes. This cannot be ignored.”
Drug and alcohol-induced deaths also increased in 2024, with drug-induced deaths rising to 1,947 from 1,766 in the previous year.
In the same time period, alcohol-induced deaths rose to 1,765 from 1,700.
Most drug-induced deaths, according to Ms Mohan, could be attributed to “acute toxicity”.
“Opioids and other depressants, including benzodiazepines, were the most common drug class present,” she said.
“Long-term complications of alcohol use, such as liver cirrhosis, was the main cause of alcohol-induced deaths.
“The alcohol-induced death rate has increased over the last five years from 5.4 deaths per 100,000 in 2020 to 5.9 in 2024.”