Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is common, costly and often detected too late to be reversible but it is largely preventable. This report compares the most reliable national estimates of the prevalence of CKD to date from two national surveys, incorporating biomedical testings that were undertaken 12 years apart: the 1999–2000 Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study (AusDiab) and the 2011–12 National Health Measurement Survey (NHMS).