Summary

Multimorbidity is an Australia's health topic

On this page:

Key findings

  • In 2022, an estimated 38% of all Australians were living with multimorbidity (2 or more of 72 selected long-term health conditions)
  • Multimorbidity was more common among adults with 4 or more risk factors (59%) compared with those with no risk factors (29%)
  • Fewer adults aged 18–64 with multimorbidity were working or seeking work (77%) than those with no chronic conditions (87%)

Multimorbidity refers to living with 2 or more chronic conditions at the same time.

Living with multimorbidity is common and becomes more common with increasing age and with risk factors including poor diet and smoking.

People living with multimorbidity often have more complex health care needs and report poorer overall quality of life than those without multimorbidity. This makes preventing and managing multimorbidity an important focus for individuals, the health system and society as a whole.

This page highlights how common living with multiple conditions is and shows how the chronic conditions that occur together vary by age and sex. Associations between risk factors and multimorbidity are described as well as how living with multimorbidity affects a person’s daily life, treatment and mortality outcomes.

Estimates of multimorbidity on this page are from AIHW analysis of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2022 National Health Survey (NHS) (ABS 2023), unless otherwise stated. Estimates are based on analysis of 72 selected long-term health conditions self-reported to the NHS and will differ from estimates based on different data sources and sets of conditions. For more information, see About the data and comparability with other estimates.

How common is multimorbidity?

Multimorbidity is common and becomes more common with increasing age

It is estimated that 38% of Australians (9.7 million people) had 2 or more of the selected long-term health conditions in 2022. This ranged from 11% of people aged 0–14 years to 79% of people aged 85 and over.

Overall, multimorbidity is more common among females than males. An estimated 5.0 million females (39%) and 4.6 million males (37%) were living with multimorbidity in 2022.

However, compared with females of the same age, multimorbidity was statistically significantly more common among males aged 0–14 years and 75 and over (Figure 1).

For information on what may be driving these differences as well as data by geographic and socioeconomic areas, and condition groups, see How common is multimorbidity?

Figure 1: Proportion of people with multimorbidity by age group and sex, 2022

This figure shows that the proportion living with multimorbidity increased with age for both males and females.

This figure shows that the proportion living with multimorbidity increased with age for both males and females.

Notes:

  1. For the list of long-term health conditions included in analysis, see Table 1 in the Technical notes.
  2. For data and footnotes see Table MM02 in the Data tables.

Patterns of multimorbidity

In 2022, the most common co-occurring conditions among people of all ages were:

  • anxiety and depression, affecting an estimated 2.4 million people (9.3%)
  • anxiety and back problems, affecting an estimated 1.3 million people (5.3%)
  • back problems and depression, affecting an estimated 1.0 million people (4.0%).

While anxiety and depression commonly co-occur among people of all ages, conditions more commonly diagnosed in childhood (such as attention deficit hyperactive disorder and autism) feature in multimorbidity at younger age groups.

In contrast, conditions that develop over the life-course (such as back problems, osteoarthritis and hearing loss) feature more with increasing age (Figure 2).

For more information, see Patterns of multimorbidity.

Figure 2: The most common pairs of co-occurring conditions, by sex and age group, 2022

This figure shows how the most common co-occurring conditions vary by sex. Among people of all ages anxiety and depression were the most commonly co-occurring conditions for both males and females although living with both of these conditions was more common among females (11%) than males (7.6%).

This figure shows how the most common co-occurring conditions vary by sex. Among people of all ages anxiety and depression were the most commonly co-occurring conditions for both males and females although living with both of these conditions was more common among females (11%) than males (7.6%).

Notes:

  1. MSK: musculoskeletal condition, ADHD: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
  2. Prevalence estimates are ordered but are not always significantly different to each other.
  3. For the list of long-term health conditions included in analysis, see Table1 in the Technical notes.
  4. For data and footnotes see Table MM06 in the Data tables.

Risk factors and multimorbidity

Many chronic conditions share risk factors that are largely preventable. Modifying these risk factors can reduce an individual's risk of developing a chronic disease and result in enhanced health outcomes.

In 2022, the estimated proportion of adults living with multimorbidity was higher among those with 4 or more of 6 selected risk factors (59%) compared with those with no risk factors (29%).

The 6 selected risk factors comprise: current daily smoking, exceeding the Australian alcohol consumption guidelines, high blood pressure, insufficient physical activity, not usually eating any serves of fruit or vegetables daily and overweight or obesity.

Of these risk factors, not usually eating any serves of fruit or vegetables daily was associated with the highest proportion of multimorbidity among adults in 2022. An estimated 60% of adults with this risk factor were living with multimorbidity.

For more information, see Risk factors and multimorbidity.

Treatment and management

People living with multimorbidity have more frequent and longer medical appointments and more medications to manage than those without multimorbidity (RACGP 2023).

People aged 45 and over with multimorbidity have also been found to have higher acute care service use (including hospital and emergency department visits) than people without multimorbidity (Kabir et al. 2024).

This increases the complexity of patient care and can require ongoing management and co-ordination of care across multiple parts of the health system.

For more information, including how co-ordinated care for people with chronic and complex health conditions is supported, see Treatment and management.

Impact on life and workforce participation

Living with multimorbidity can have a substantial impact on an individual’s perceived health status, affect their quality of life and have social and economic effects.

In 2022, compared with people with no long-term health conditions of the same age, people aged 18 and over with multimorbidity experienced higher levels of:

  • disability, restriction or limitation (41% of people with multimorbidity experienced this compared with 2.0% of people with no long-term health conditions)
  • moderate to very severe bodily pain in the previous 4 weeks (41% compared with 8.2%)
  • fair or poor health (28% compared with 3.2%).

People with multimorbidity were less likely to be in the labour force (working or seeking work) than people with no chronic conditions.

In 2022, the estimated proportion of people aged 18–64 who were working or seeking work was:

  • 77% for those with multimorbidity
  • 87% for those with no chronic conditions.

For further details including workforce participation data by age and sex, see Impact on life and workforce participation.

How multiple conditions contribute to death

Australians who die of chronic conditions often have multiple causes contributing to their death.

In 2023, on average 3.3 causes were recorded on each death certificate. The average number of causes per death generally increased with age from 1.8 for those aged 0–14 years to 3.5 among those aged 85 years and over (AIHW 2025).

Examining all the causes of death listed on a person’s death certificate can aid an understanding of how multiple conditions contribute to death.

For information on commonly reported associated causes of death for selected chronic conditions as the underlying cause, see How multiple conditions contribute to death.

Where do I go for more information?

For further information on chronic conditions and multimorbidity, see:

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