Dementia Accounts for More Than 10 Per Cent of Deaths in Australia for First Time
Dementia caused 10.1 per cent of deaths in Australia in 2025, the first year the share has passed 10 per cent, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The national statistics agency published its Causes of Death, Australia, 2025 report on 27 October 2026. Of the 188,421 deaths registered in the country that year, 19,019 were caused by dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, a progressive illness that damages memory and thinking.
Dementia has been Australia's leading cause of death since 2024. The total number of registered deaths rose by 1,153 from the previous year. Once population ageing is taken into account, the age-standardised death rate fell to 495.5 deaths per 100,000 people in 2025, down from 507.8 in 2024. Age standardisation adjusts for the fact that a larger share of the population is now elderly, and so the figure allows comparison across years. The male rate fell to 581.3 per 100,000, which the bureau described as a record low.
Ischaemic heart diseases, which narrow the arteries that supply the heart, remained the second leading cause, accounting for 8.6 per cent of deaths. The gap between the two causes was 2,791 deaths. The death rate from ischaemic heart diseases was the lowest on record since its peak in 1968. Cerebrovascular diseases, which include strokes, lung cancer and chronic lower respiratory diseases completed the top five. Influenza and pneumonia ranked 11th, accounting for 2.3 per cent of deaths.
Women accounted for almost two-thirds of dementia deaths in 2025. The ABS also estimated that 446,500 Australians are currently living with dementia.
Other figures in the same release were also reported by The Guardian. Asthma caused 484 deaths in 2025, up from 478 in 2024, the highest annual number in a decade. Women made up almost two-thirds of those asthma deaths. Drug-induced deaths rose to 2,063 from 2,007 a year earlier.
The World Health Organization places Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia fifth among the leading causes of death worldwide, killing 2.1 million people, according to its fact sheet on the top causes of death.
