Being overweight now top risk to Australians’ health as smoking rates decline, data shows

More than one in three cases of disease and injury this year could have been avoided, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare finds

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Being overweight has overtaken tobacco smoking as the leading risk factor contributing to disease in 2024, new government data shows.

The Australian Burden of Disease Study 2024, released Thursday by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), estimates Australians lost 5.8m years of healthy life due to living with illness and injury, or dying prematurely. This loss of healthy life is called the “burden of disease”.

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