Sex and age differences

There were just over 61,000 sports injury hospitalisations reported in Australia in 2024–25. Males accounted for 70% of all hospitalisations (or 42,800 cases), while females accounted for nearly 30% (or 18,000 cases) (Figure 4).

Males had a higher rate of hospitalisation than females in every age group. During childhood, rates rose for both sexes and peaked for males aged 15–19 (around 860 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) and for females aged 10–14 (around 300 hospitalisations per 100,000 population). 

Males aged 15–19 had the highest proportion of sports injury hospitalisations across major cities (12% or 5,100 cases), regional areas (13% or 2,100 cases), and remote areas (13% or 92 cases). Males aged 10–14 had the highest proportion of sports injury hospitalisations across very remote areas (12% or 48 cases), closely followed by males aged 15–19 (12% or 47 cases). 

There was a drop in sports injury hospitalisation rates for males between ages 20–24 and 25–29 compared to the gradual decrease observed among females. Rates continued to decrease for males until aged 75–79, where rates slightly increased thereafter. Rates for females remained relatively stable from ages 45–49 before slightly dropping at 95+.

Figure 4: Number and crude rate (per 100,000 population) of sports injury hospitalisations by 5-year age groups and sex, Australia, 2024–25

Two combination charts for males and females, each showing the number of hospitalisations as a bar chart and the corresponding crude rate as a line graph for each five-year age group.

Two combination charts for males and females, each showing the number of hospitalisations as a bar chart and the corresponding crude rate as a line graph for each five-year age group.

For more detail, see data table 1.

Trends over the past decade

From 2017–18 to 2024–25, sports injury hospitalisation rates rose by an annual average of 0.2% for both sexes. Between 2017–18 and 2018–19 sports injury hospitalisations were relatively stable but fluctuated noticeably between 2019–20 and 2021–22, a likely effect of the COVID-19 pandemic (Figure 5).

Hospitalisation rates were at their lowest in 2019–20 for males (300 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) and females (130 hospitalisations per 100,000 population). In 2020–21, hospitalisation rates had peaked for both sexes: 385 hospitalisations per 100,000 population for males and 160 hospitalisations per 100,000 population for females. During this same period, the number of hospitalisations ranged from 36,300 to 46,900 for males and 15,800 to 19,500 for females.

Across 2023–24 and 2024–25, sports injury hospitalisation rates appeared to have stabilised. Males averaged around 330 hospitalisations per 100,000 population and females about 140 hospitalisations per 100,000 population.

Figure 5: Number and age-standardised rate (per 100,000 population) of sports injury hospitalisations by sex, Australia, 2015–16 to 2024–25

Line graph shows trends for males, females and persons with a dashed vertical line separating years 2016–17 and 2017–18 to indicate a break in time series, described in technical notes. 

Line graph shows trends for males, females and persons with a dashed vertical line separating years 2016–17 and 2017–18 to indicate a break in time series, described in technical notes. 

For more detail, see data table 6.

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