Men's health Overview

Overview

Men have different biological, social, and cultural experiences compared to women, that can impact health throughout their lives. Overall, men are more likely to engage in risky health behaviours, experience higher rates of substance use, and face greater exposure to occupational hazards. Additionally, men are disproportionately affected by suicide, injuries, and some chronic conditions. These factors contribute to a higher burden of disease and earlier mortality compared to women.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) produces data disaggregated by sex and/or gender throughout our reports, where possible. This topic page focuses on data and reporting related to the top five priority health issues outlined in the National Men's Health Strategy 2020–2030. Expand the below sections to investigate AIHW data and reports related to these priority areas.

How does AIHW reporting define men?

The use of the word ‘men’ in AIHW reporting may refer to either sex or gender, due to the nature of the data sources used. While the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, they have distinct meanings. See AIHW data by sex and gender for definitions of sex and gender.

This page uses the term ‘men’ when referring to adult males to align with the National Men's Health Strategy 2020–2030. Due to different data sources and their collection and reporting methods, the defined age range for men will vary across different reports.

Chronic conditions and preventive health Expand

Chronic conditions

AIHW reporting across chronic conditions, multimorbidity and risk factors includes breakdowns by sex to enable investigation on the impact of chronic diseases among men.

Certain conditions impact men more than women. AIHW produces reporting that provides data to understand these conditions and how they disproportionately impact men. See:

Dementia is an increasingly important chronic condition for men as more men are reaching older ages where dementia risk is highest. For AIHW reporting on dementia see the Dementia topic page and Dementia in Australia report.

Preventive health

The National preventive health monitoring dashboard provides information by sex where possible. This enables exploration of how males in Australia are progressing against the targets of the National Preventive Health Strategy 2021–2030.

Lung and bowel cancers are high-mortality cancers in Australian males. The National Bowel Cancer Screening Program and the National Lung Cancer Screening Program aim to detect disease early to prevent mortality. AIHW provides regular monitoring for the national cancer screening programs in Australia. For more information see Cancer screening.

Injuries & risk taking Expand

Injuries

The AIHW’s annual Injury in Australia report provides data on injury related emergency department (ED) presentations, hospitalisations and deaths among Australians. The impact of specific causes of injury can be explored in related cause articles, including Falls, Contact with objects and Contact with living things.

A more comprehensive analysis of injuries among adult males in 2021–22 was produced in the report Injuries affecting men in Australia: A closer look.

In addition the AIHW produces data and information on injury patterns through its Sports injury in Australia and Let’s talk about the weather: injuries related to extreme weather reports.

Risk taking behaviour

The AIHW produces a range of reports relating to risk taking behaviours:

The Alcohol, tobacco & other drugs in Australia report consolidates recent information on the availability and consumption of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs in Australia, and related impacts, harms and treatment.
The National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2022–2023 provides an overview and data about individuals’ use and opinions of licit and illicit drugs, including alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, e-cigarettes and vapes.
The Gambling in Australia report provides information and data on gambling participation and expenditure, gambling-related impacts on health and wellbeing and highlights emerging gambling trends and opportunities for improved monitoring.
The Family, domestic and sexual violence website brings together information from a range of sources to provide a comprehensive picture of FDSV in Australia.

Sexual and reproductive health Expand

Currently the AIHW does not produce dedicated reports on sexual and reproductive health for men. However, relevant data and information available within other AIHW reporting sources include:

Information on human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination among boys can be found in the adolescent immunisation coverage section of Immunisation and vaccination.
Information on sexually transmissible infections can be found in Infectious and communicable diseases, however information specifically for males is limited.

For more information see Sexual & reproductive health.

Mental health and suicide Expand

The AIHW’s Mental health online report provides data and analysis across all areas of mental health including prevalence and impact, use of health and social services and safety and quality. Data on the prevalence and types of mental health disorders, mental health scores and psychological distress in males is available in Prevalence and impact of mental illness overview.

The AIHW’s Suicide & self-harm monitoring site provides data on suicide and self-harm by sex, highlighting important sex differences in these behaviours that are important for understanding and responding to suicide and self-harm in men.

Healthy ageing Expand

Healthy ageing relates to maintaining physical, mental, and social wellbeing in older age to continue to live with independence and a high quality of life. Addressing risk factors that impact the quality of life of men as they age and understanding and managing the needs of ageing men are fundamental to promoting healthy ageing.

The Older Australians report provides insights on the health and social wellbeing of people over the age of 65. Differences between men and women are examined where possible.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) has a disproportionate impact on older men and reduction of CHD risk is an important part to healthy ageing. See Risk factors for heart, stroke and vascular disease for information and Australian Burden of Disease Study 2024, Diseases and associated risk factors for data on the risk factors that contribute most to the burden of CHD in Australia’s men.

Mental health in aged care provides a snapshot of what is known about the mental health needs of individuals at the time of assessment for aged care services (that is, prior to, or at, entry to care) and of deaths due to suicide while accessing aged care, using linked data from the National Aged Care Data Clearinghouse and the National Death Index.

References to AIHW data on modifiable risk factors among men that are important contributors to healthy ageing, can be seen in the Chronic conditions and preventive health section.