Prevalence

The interactive graphs below allow you to explore the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Australia, based on nationally representative measured height and weight data.

Children and adolescents

In 2017–18, one in four (25%) children and adolescents aged 2–17 were overweight or obese. That’s around 1.2 million children and adolescents. About 1 in 6 (17%) children and adolescents were overweight but not obese while 1 in 12 (8.2%) were obese (ABS 2018b).

Results were similar for boys and girls across the age groups.

This bar chart shows the prevalence of 3 measures of overweight and obesity for children and adolescents in 2017–18: overweight and obesity combined, obesity alone, and overweight but not obese. Data are shown for boys, girls and all children in the following age groups: 2–4, 5–9, 10–14 and 15–17. The chart shows similar rates of overweight and obesity across age groups for boys and girls.

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See Overweight and obesity among Australian children and adolescents for more information on this age group.

Adults

In 2017–18, 2 in 3 (67%) of Australians aged 18 and over were overweight or obese. Put another way, approximately 12.5 million adults were overweight or obese. About 1 in 3 (36%) adults were overweight but not obese, and about 1 in 3 (31%) were obese. About 1 in 9 (12%) adults were severely obese, which is defined in this report as having a BMI of 35 or more (Table S4).

For all measures of overweight and obesity, men had higher rates than women did:

  • 75% of men and 60% of women were overweight or obese
  • 33% of men and 30% of women were obese
  • 42% of men and 30% of women were overweight but not obese (Table S2).

Overweight and obesity is distributed differently among men and women, as shown in the BMI calculator.

Across age groups for men, the proportion who were overweight or obese increased with age from 52% at 18–24 to 83% at 45–54, plateaued until 65–74, and then decreased to 65% at age 85 years and over.

Across age groups for women, the proportion who were overweight or obese increased with age from 40% at 18–24 to 73% at 65–74, and decreased to 61% at age 85 years and over.

Obesity is more common in older age groups—about 1 in 6 men (18%) and 1 in 7 women (14%) aged 18–24 year were obese, compared with 2 in 5 men (42%) and women (39%) aged 65–74.

This bar chart shows the prevalence of 3 measures of overweight and obesity for adults aged 18 and over in 2017–18: overweight and obesity combined, obesity alone, and overweight but not obese. Data are shown for men and women in 8 age groups, from 18 to 85 and over. Across age groups for men, overweight and obesity increased with age from 52% at 18–24 to 83% at 45–54, plateaued until 65–74, and then decreased to 65% at age 85 years and over. Across age groups for women, the proportion who were overweight or obese increased with age from 40% at 18–24 to 73% at 65–74, and decreased to 61% at age 85 years and over.

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Waist circumference

In 2017–18, 60% of men and 66% of women aged 18 and over had a waist circumference that indicated an increased or substantially increased risk of metabolic complications. The proportion of adults with a waist circumference that indicated a substantially increased risk of metabolic complications tended to increase with age, up until about age 65–74 for men and 75–84 for women.

This stacked bar chart shows the proportion of men and women who had a waist circumference indicating an increased or a substantially increased risk of metabolic complication, in 8 age groups, from 18 to 85 and over. It shows that the proportion with a substantially increased risk tended to increase with age, up until about age 65–74 for men and 75–84 for women.

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians

According to the latest data from the 2018–19 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey, 38% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and adolescents aged 2–17 were overweight or obese. This was an increase from the 31% estimated from the previous Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey in 2012–13 (ABS 2015, 2019a). It was also higher than the 24% of non-Indigenous children and adolescents estimated from the latest National Health Survey in 2017–18 (ABS 2019c).

There was little difference in the prevalence of overweight and obesity between Indigenous boys and girls aged 2–17 in 2018–19 (36% of boys and 40% of girls). However, there was some variation across age groups for boys, with overweight and obesity increasing between ages 2–4 (21%), 5–9 (33%) and 10–14 (45%). For girls, there were no significant differences in the prevalence of overweight and obesity across age groups (Figure 4).

See Overweight and obesity among Australian children and adolescents for more information.

This bar chart shows the prevalence of 3 measures of overweight and obesity for Indigenous children and adolescents in 2018–19: overweight and obesity combined, obesity alone, and overweight but not obese. Data are shown for boys, girls and all children in the following age groups: 2–4, 5–9, 10–14 and 15–17. The chart shows more variation across age groups for boys than for girls, with overweight and obesity increasing from 21% at 2–4, to 45% at 10–14 for boys, and ranging between 37% and 42% for girls.

Visualisation not available for printing

In 2018–19, 3 in 4 (74%) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians aged 18 and over were overweight or obese, and 45% were obese. This was an increase from 2012–13, when 69% of Indigenous adults were overweight or obese, and 40% were obese (ABS 2014, 2019a).

In 2018–19, the obesity rate for younger Indigenous adults aged 18–24 was lower than the obesity rate for those aged 55 and over (32% compared with 51%). At age 55 and over, 4 in 5 (82%) adults were overweight or obese.

There was some variation between men and women across age groups, but no statistically significant differences (Figure 5).

After adjusting for differences in the age structure of Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, Indigenous adults were 1.2 times as likely to be overweight or obese as non-Indigenous adults (77% compared with 66%), and 1.5 times as likely to be obese (47% compared with 31%) (ABS 2019a).

This bar chart shows the prevalence of 3 measures of overweight and obesity for Indigenous adults aged 18 and over in 2018–19: overweight and obesity combined, obesity alone, and overweight but not obese. Data are shown for men and women in 5 age groups, from 18 to 55 and over. For both men and women, the prevalence of overweight and obesity was lower for younger Indigenous adults aged 18–24 (59% overall) compared with those aged 55 and over (82% overall).