Mental health
Summary
Over 2 in 5 (43% or 8.5 million) Australians
aged 16–85 are estimated to have experienced a mental disorder at some time in their life.
People living with mental illness are more
likely to develop comorbid physical illness and have a lower life expectancy than the general population.
In 2022, an estimated 1 in 9 Australians experience Post-traumatic stress disorder in their life.
In 2022, about 1 in 7 Australians were experiencing social isolation and 1 in 6 experiencing loneliness.
There were 51,500 same day and 206,000 overnight public hospital mental health-related hospitalisations in 2022–23.
Around 9.7 million community mental health care contacts were provided to 502,000 consumers in 2022–23.
In 2022–23, 3% of presentations to public Emergency departments were mental health-related.
Around 2.7 million Australians (10% of the population) received Medicare-subsidised mental health-specific services in 2022–23.
18% of Australians (4.8 million people) were dispensed mental health-related medications in 2022–23.
In June 2023, 1 in 2 National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants with a psychosocial primary disability had a principal diagnosis of Schizophrenia.
In 2022–23, around 9,100 episodes of residential mental health care were recorded for an estimated 7,250 residents.
31% of total Specialist Homelessness Services (SHS) clients had a current mental health issue in 2021–22.
6,850 specialised mental health public hospital beds were available across 158 public hospitals in 2021–22.
Spending on mental health-related services increased from $10.9 billion (2017–18) to $12.2 billion in 2021–22.
There were about 25,000 mental health nurses working in Australia in 2022.
In 2023, 37% of Disability Support Pension (DSP) recipients (about 286,000 people) had a primary medical condition in the 'Psychological/Psychiatric' category.
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Across NSW, Qld and Vic almost 25,000 consumer-rated surveys were collected in 2021–22.
Information was collected for 42% of consumers receiving mental health care in 2021–22.
Rates of seclusion events have fallen over the past decade.
In 2021–22, 45% of hospitalisations in mental health care were for people receiving involuntary in acute (short-term care) units.