Home - Australian Government - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare - logo
Mental health

Burden of disease mental health summary

Key points

The Australia Burden of Disease Study 2023 found that mental and substance use disorders were responsible for 15% of the total burden of disease (DALY), second only to cancer (17%).

Mental and substance use disorders total burden has increased by 27% since 2003. The total burden of all disease groups decreased by 11% over the same period.

Males experienced a higher burden from all diseases while females experience a higher burden for mental health conditions and substance use disorders.

Mental health and burden of disease

The concept of burden of disease has been developed as a way of measuring the impact of diseases and injuries on a population (in this report, the population of Australia). It is the difference between a population's actual health and its ideal health, where ideal health is living to old age in good health (without disease or disability).

Burden of disease is measured using the summary measure of disability-adjusted life years (DALY, also known as the total burden in this report). One DALY is one year of healthy life lost to disease and injury. DALY caused by living in poor health (non-fatal burden) are the 'years lived with disability' (YLD). DALY caused by premature death (fatal burden) are the 'years of life lost' (YLL) and are measured against an ideal life expectancy. The use of DALYs allows the impact of premature deaths and living with health impacts from disease or injury to be compared and reported in a consistent manner.

This page also presents the total burden or DALY as an age-standardised or 'age-specific' rate (per 1,000 population). Refer below for more information on rates for burden of disease.

What are mental health conditions and substance use disorders?

This report looks at the burden of disease for Australians, particularly how the mental health burden compares to the total burden. The Australian Burden of Disease Study (ABDS) 2023 reports on the mental health conditions and substance use disorders group which encompasses a broad range of conditions including affective disorders (major depressive disorder, dysthymia and bipolar disorder), anxiety disorders, alcohol and drug use disorders, child behavioural and developmental disorders, schizophrenia, and intellectual disability. It excludes suicidal behaviour, self-harm, drug poisoning and drug overdose (which are included in injuries) and dementia, a condition affecting the nervous system (which is included in neurological conditions). For brevity, the label for this group is shortened to 'mental and substance use disorders' for this report.

Spotlight data

What is the burden of mental and substance use disorders for Australians? 

Overview dashboard: In 2023, the age-specific rate of DALYs was 31 per 1,000 population for mental and substance use disorders and 213 for all diseases. People aged 20–34 had the highest burden for mental and substance use disorders, whereas for all diseases the highest burden was for those aged 75–79. Anxiety (8.3) followed by depressive disorders (6.3) were the mental and substance use disorders with the largest burden (age-specific DALY rate per 1,000).

Fatal and non-fatal burden dashboard: In 2023, for mental and substance use disorders 98.3% of the burden was non-fatal and 1.7% fatal. For all diseases, there was a lower non-fatal burden 53.9% and higher 46.1% fatal burden. 

Change over time dashboard: Between 2003 to 2023, males (36%) had a larger increase in alcohol use disorders than females (24%), whereas; females (63%) had larger increases for bipolar affective disorder than males (3%). The cancer and other neoplasms (26%) and cardiovascular diseases (47%) had large decreases in their burden between 2003–2023.

Link to data tables: Australian Burden of Disease Study 2023 National estimates for Australia

The Australian Burden of Disease Study 2023 found that mental and substance use disorders were estimated to be responsible for 15% of the total burden of disease (DALY), placing it second as a broad disease group after cancer (17%).

The largest contributors to total burden in 2023 in the mental and substance use disorders group were (AIHW 2023):

  • anxiety disorders (4%)
  • depressive disorders (3%)
  • autism spectrum disorders (2%).

How does the mental and substance use disorder total burden vary by sex and age?

Males had a higher age-specific rate for DALYs (212 per 1,000 population) than females (197) for all disease groups. For mental and substance use disorders, males and females had the same age-specific DALY rate (31); however, for females it contributed to 15% of the total burden in Australia and 14% for males.

For specific types of mental and substance use disorders, females had a higher age-specific rate of:

  • anxiety disorders (16.5 per 1,000 population)
  • depressive disorders (12.6)
  • bipolar affective disorder (4.4)
  • eating disorders (4.1).

Males had a higher age-specific rate of:

  • autism spectrum disorders (7.7)
  • schizophrenia (3.0)
  • intellectual disability (1.4)
  • conduct disorders (0.9)
  • attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (0.6).

Note: results for conduct disorders and autism spectrum disorders should be interpreted with caution due to data quality issues.

Mental health conditions and substance disorders burden was highest in people aged 30–34, however there were variances between the sexes. Females had a higher peak in total burden between the ages of 20–34 while males were highest in the 30–34 year age group. This trend was similar across all types of mental and substance use disorders, except for conduct disorders where children and adolescents contributed the highest to the total burden (AIHW 2023).

What is the mental and substance use disorder fatal and non-fatal burden?

Despite mental and substance use disorders being the second contributor to total DALY in Australia, the fatal burden (YLL) is small (2%) with the majority of the burden being non-fatal (YLD) (98%). This is considerably less than all disease groups with a fatal burden (YLL) of 46% and non-fatal burden (YLD) of 54% (AIHW 2023).

How has the mental health total burden changed over time?

Mental and substance use disorders total burden has increased by 27% since 2003. This pattern is different to all disease groups where there was an 11% decrease in the total burden over the same period.

Some mental and substance use disorders had a notable percentage change in the age-standardised DALY rate between 2003 and 2023, such as (AIHW 2023):

  • anxiety disorders increased by 33%
  • bipolar affective disorders increased by 33%
  • eating disorders increased by 21%
  • depressive disorders increased by 11%.

Where can I find more information?

Data in this section were last updated in July 2024.