NSW’s unhealthiest suburbs based on rates of cancer, heart, lung disease and mental health problems
These are the unhealthiest suburbs in NSW based on cancer, heart or lung disease and other illnesses. Use our searchable tool to see how your area compares.
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Exclusive: NSW is home to three of the nation’s top 10 most unhealthy regions.
The Great Lakes region, which takes in Forster, Tuncurry and Bulahdelah is the second most unhealthy region in the nation after the retiree mecca that is the Bribie Beachmere region in Queensland.
The Great Lakes region ranked in the top 10 in the nation for high rates of heart disease, lung disease, kidney disease, stroke, cancer, arthritis and ranked number one for dementia.
Fifty seven per cent of the region’s population is aged over 50 and eight in 10 people living there were born in Australia, with most assigning themselves English, Australian, Irish or Scottish ancestry.
The Taree Gloucester region and the Kempsey Nambucca region also ranked in the top 10 healthiest areas of Australia.
The Taree Gloucester region scores in the top 10 in the nation for high rates of arthritis, dementia, kidney disease and stroke.
The Kempsey Nambucca region scores in the top 10 in the nation for high rates of dementia, kidney disease, lung disease and stroke.
However on the upside, NSW is the nation’s healthiest state and youth and multiculturalism are fuelling the phenomenon.
The state boasts the most number of regions in the country where people claim to have none of the 10 major health conditions crippling Australians, including cancer, heart and lung disease and mental health problems.
And of the nation’s top 10 healthiest regions, seven are in NSW.
Unexpectedly, it is not those living in Sydney’s wealthiest suburbs, the yoga and exercise loving residents of Bondi or the kale and organic-food obsessed surfers on the northern beaches boasting the best health.
NSW’s multicultural areas instead top the list.
Census data from 2021 shows Auburn is the healthiest region in Australia with 72.8 per cent of people stating they have none of the 10 most common health conditions.
Eight in 10 people living in the area have parents who were born overseas and four in 10 claim either Chinese, Korean or Nepalese heritage.
Auburn also has a very young population with three in four people aged under 50.
In six other locations, including Rouse Hill-McGraths Hill, Blacktown North, Pennant Hills-Epping, Lord Howe Island, Chatswood, Lane Cove and Parramatta, seven in 10 people stated they had none of the common health conditions.
In Blacktown, where nearly 30 per cent of the population claims Indian, Filipino and Chinese ancestry, six in 10 people have parents who were born overseas.
In Pennant Hills-Epping, 30 per cent of the population has Chinese ancestry, with the parents of six in 10 residents there born overseas.
In Parramatta, one in five people claim Indian ancestry and one in 10, Chinese. Only four in 10 residents were born in Australia and seven in 10 had parents born overseas.
Nationally, Queensland’s Bribie Island and Beachmere are the sickest regions in Australia and home to the highest proportion of people suffering from the top 10 health conditions, the census data shows.
In Victoria, the Maryborough Pyrenees region ranks in equal third place with high rates of stroke, diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, arthritis and mental health
In Tasmania, the South East Coast region has the second highest rates of cancer and arthritis in the country and Brighton has high rates of asthma and mental health problems.
In the Northern Territory, people with no fixed address have the nation’s highest rate of kidney disease.
It is the first time the national Census has collected information on diagnosed long-term health conditions.
Australian Medical Association (AMA) president Professor Stephen Robson said it was vital it was used to plan health service delivery.
While most major hospitals and health services are concentrated in the centre of our big cities, the census showed people with the most chronic health conditions live in rural and regional areas, he said.
Professor Robson said health policy makers had to figure out “how can we make it an attractive thing to move out of the lower north shore of Sydney and move into a place where you can have an enormous impact on a community living and working?”
The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Dr David Gruen said the proportion of those with a long-term health condition increased with age and women were more likely to report a long-term health condition than men.
Asthma was the most commonly reported health condition for 0–14 year olds, with more boys (7.4 per cent) reporting asthma compared to girls (5.3 per cent).
More than half of Australians with Greek (56.1 per cent) and Italian (53.7 per cent) heritage reported one or more long-term health conditions.
The 2021 census also found:
• More than 8 million people had a long-term health condition.
• 4,791,516 people had one of the selected top 10 long-term health conditions.
• 1,490,344 people had two of the selected long-term health conditions.
• 772,142 people had three or more of the selected long-term health conditions.
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