Stroke

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How many Australians have had a stroke?

In 2022, an estimated 425,000 Australians (1.7% of the population) had experienced a stroke at some time in their lives.

Stroke events

  • In 2023, there were an estimated 41,100 stroke events in Australia – around 113 every day.
  • The age-standardised rate of stroke events fell by 30% between 2001 and 2023.

Hospitalisations

  • There were around 73,000 hospitalisations where stroke was recorded as the principal diagnosis in 2023–24.
  • The number of stroke hospitalisations increased with age, with half (50%) of all stroke hospitalisations occurring in those aged 75 and over.

Deaths

In 2024, stroke was the underlying cause of 7,900 deaths (4.2% of all deaths and 19% of CVD deaths).

What is stroke?

Stroke occurs when a blood vessel supplying blood to the brain either suddenly becomes blocked (ischaemic stroke) or ruptures and begins to bleed (haemorrhagic stroke).

Either may result in part of the brain dying, leading to impairment that can affect a range of activities such as speaking, thinking, movement and communication. Stroke is often fatal.

Risk factors for stroke include tobacco smoking, high blood pressure, abnormal blood lipids, transient ischaemic attack (TIA), atrial fibrillation, diabetes and other heart disease.

Stroke is sometimes referred to as cerebrovascular disease, although cerebrovascular disease is a broader category of diseases which include stroke and other disorders of the blood vessels supplying the brain or its covering membranes. Stroke is the most common form of cerebrovascular disease. 

How many Australians have had a stroke?

In 2022, an estimated 425,000 Australians (1.7% of the population) had experienced a stroke at some time in their lives, based on self-reported data from the ABS Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (ABS 2024).

Age and sex

The prevalence of stroke was:

  • 1.1 times as high in males than females, after adjusting for differences in the age structure of the populations
  • more common in older age groups – 71% of people who had a stroke were aged 65 and over. Proportions were highest for those aged 85 and over – 2.5 times as high as for those aged 65–74. 

Variation among population groups

Based on the 2022 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers, the age-standardised prevalence of stroke was:

  • almost twice as high among those living in the lowest socioeconomic areas compared to the highest socioeconomic areas
  • similar across remoteness areas for both females and males.

See the supplementary data tables for estimates. 

Stroke events

There are no direct national data sources on the annual number of strokes. However, a related measure can be used as an estimate – the number of stroke events – developed by the AIHW using unlinked hospital and deaths data (AIHW 2022). The number of stroke events includes new and recurrent strokes.

In 2023, there were an estimated 41,100 stroke events in Australia – around 113 every day. The rate of stroke events was 154 per 100,000 population.

Age and sex

In 2023, there were an estimated 22,100 stroke events among males and 19,000 among females.

Rates of stroke events:

  • were 1.4 times as high among males as females, after adjusting for differences in the age structure of the populations
  • increased with age, with the rate among those aged 85 and over being more than twice the rate of the 75–84 age group, and more than 5 times the rate of the 65–74 age group (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Stroke events, by age and sex, 2023

The rate of stroke events increased with increasing age. Rates were higher among males than females across most ages, with similar rates at ages 85 and over.


Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database and AIHW National Mortality Database.

Trends

The age-standardised rate of stroke events fell by 30% between 2001 and 2023. The decline in rates was slightly greater for females (33%) than males (28%).

Transient ischaemic attack

Transient ischaemic attack (TIA) is a condition related to stroke. It is a temporary blockage of the blood supply to the brain, often lasting only a few minutes, and producing stroke-like symptoms that disappear within a short time. 

Unlike stroke, there is no permanent damage to the brain, with no remaining symptoms, and no evidence of damage on brain imaging. TIA is, however, an important predictor of stroke – after a TIA, the risk of stroke is much higher (Stroke Foundation 2021).

  • In 2024–25 there were 20,500 presentations to public hospital emergency departments with a principal diagnosis of TIA – more than half (12,100 or 59%) were subsequently admitted to hospital.
  • In 2023–24 there were 15,800 admissions to hospital with a principal diagnosis of TIA – a rate of 59 per 100,000 population. The rate was 1.2 times as high among males as females, after adjusting for age.  
  • Around 4.5% (709) of TIA admissions had an additional diagnosis of atrial fibrillation.
  • One quarter (4,300 or 27%) of TIA admissions were on a same-day basis. The average length of stay in hospital for all TIA admissions was 2.9 days.

Hospitalisations

There were around 73,000 hospitalisations where stroke was recorded as the principal diagnosis in 2023–24 – a rate of 271 per 100,000 population. 

This represented 0.6% of all hospitalisations, and 12% of all cardiovascular disease (CVD) hospitalisations in Australia. 

Of these, 43,700 (60%) required acute care, and 29,200 (40%) were for rehabilitation and other types of care.

Age and sex

In 2023–24, where stroke was recorded as the principal diagnosis, hospitalisation rates:

  • were 1.5 times as high among males as females, after adjusting for differences in the age structure of the populations
  • increased with age, with rates for males and females peaking among those aged 85 and over. Rates among those 85 and over were 1.6 and 1.9 times as high as males and females aged 75–84, respectively (Figure 2).

The number of stroke hospitalisations increased with age, with half (50%) of all stroke hospitalisations occurring in those aged 75 and over.

Figure 2: Stroke hospitalisation rates, principal diagnosis, by age and sex, 2023–24

Bar chart showing stroke hospitalisation rates increased with age. They were consistently higher among males than females, but the gap narrowed among those aged 85 years and over.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

Trends

Between 2000–01 and 2023–24:

  • the number of acute care stroke hospitalisations increased by 50% for males, and 21% for females
  • the age-standardised rate of hospitalisation for acute care stroke fell by 25%. Rates fell by 23% for males and 29% for females (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Acute care stroke hospitalisation rates, principal diagnosis, by sex, 2000–01 to 2023–24

The line chart shows a decline in acute care stroke hospitalisation rates from 2000–01 to 2023–24. Rates were consistently higher among males than females. 

Notes

  1. Age-standardised to the 2001 Australian Standard Population.
  2. Analysis includes care types: 1 (acute care), 7.1 (newborn with qualified days only), 7.2 (newborn with qualified and unqualified days) and 99 (not reported / unknown) only.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

Variation by priority population groups

In 2023–24, age-standardised stroke hospitalisation rates for people living in:

  • the lowest socioeconomic areas were 1.2 times as high as for people living in the highest socioeconomic areas
  • Remote and very remote areas were 1.1 times as high as for people living in Major cities.

For information on First Nations people, see First Nations people. Data disaggregated by priority population groups are available in the supplementary data tables.

Deaths

In 2024, stroke was the underlying cause of 7,900 deaths (4.2% of all deaths and 19% of CVD deaths) – a rate of 29 per 100,000 population.

Age and sex

In 2024, stroke death rates:

  • were similar for males and females after adjusting for differences in the age structure of the populations
  • were higher among males than females in most age groups with the exception of those aged 85 and over (710 and 598 per 100,000 population among females and males, respectively)
  • increased with age, with half (49%) of all stroke deaths occurring in those aged 85 and over, where stroke death rates were 4.0 times as high for males and 5.1 times as high for females aged 75–84.

Trends

Stroke mortality declined substantially between 1980 and 2024. Over this period:

  • the number of stroke deaths declined by 21%, from 10,000 to 7,900
  • the age-standardised stroke death rate declined by 80%. 

Declines in stroke death rates were similar for males and females (Figure 4).

Falling stroke death rates have been driven by several factors, including improvements in risk factors such as lower rates of tobacco smoking, an increased use of blood pressure–lowering drugs, treatment to prevent blood clots, access to stroke units in hospitals and other advances in medical care (AIHW 2013).

Figure 4: Stroke death rates, underlying cause, by sex, 1980–2024

The age-standardised rate of stroke deaths has decreased over time. Unlike many other cardiovascular disease subtypes, the rate is similar among males and females. 

  1. Age-standardised to the 2001 Australian Standard Population.
  2. Deaths are counted according to year of registration of death.
  3. Deaths registered in 2021 and earlier are based on the final version of cause of death data; deaths registered in 2022 are based on the revised version; and deaths registered in 2023 and 2024 are based on the preliminary version. Revised and preliminary versions are subject to further revision by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Source: AIHW National Mortality Database.

Variation by priority population groups

In 2024, after adjusting for differences in the age structure of the populations, the stroke death rate was:

  • 1.3 times as high for people living in the lowest socioeconomic areas compared with those living in the highest socioeconomic areas. The difference was greater for males than females (1.4 and 1.2 times, respectively)
  • 1.2 times as high in Remote and very remote areas compared with Major cities among males. Among females, the rate was highest in Outer regional areas (1.2 times as high as Major cities).

For information on First Nations people, see First Nations people. Data disaggregated by priority population groups are available in the supplementary data tables.

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