Dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, accounted for over 17,500 deaths in 2024 and is now the nation's leading cause of death, overtaking ischaemic heart diseases, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Lauren Moran, ABS head of mortality statistics, said: 'The number of deaths caused by dementia has risen by 39 per cent over the last decade.'
The leading causes of death in 2024 aligned with Australia's ageing population. Over two-thirds (68.2 per cent) of deaths are people aged over 75 years, compared to 66.1 per cent ten years ago and 63.3 per cent twenty years ago.
'People are now more likely to live to an age where they have a higher risk of developing dementia,' Ms Moran said.
'This is especially true for women who have longer life expectancies. Today's data shows that 62.4 per cent of people who died from dementia were women.
'We've also seen that dementia has been the leading cause of death for women since 2016.'
The gap between dementia and ischaemic heart disease had been narrowing over time. Dementia accounted for 9.1 per cent of total deaths while heart disease accounted for 9.3 per cent in 2023. In 2024, dementia accounted for 9.4 per cent of total deaths, and ischaemic heart diseases 8.7 per cent.
Mortality rates due to coronary heart diseases have dropped by nearly 90 per cent since they peaked in 1968.
'However, coronary heart disease remains the leading cause of death for men, causing 10,153 deaths in 2024,' Ms Moran said.
'It was also the leading cause of death for people living in outer regional, remote, and very remote Australia.'
