Dementia Hits 10.1% of Australian Deaths for First Time, Asthma Deaths at Decade High

Dementia killed 19,019 Australians in 2025. That is 10.1% of the 188,421 deaths registered that year, the first time the disease has crossed the 10% line, according to new Australian Bureau of Statistics data released Tuesday.

Dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, has been the country's leading cause of death since 2024. The 2025 toll is about 1,500 higher than the year before.

"This is the first time dementia has accounted for more than 10 per cent of all deaths in Australia," said Lauren Moran, the bureau's head of mortality statistics.

A long climb up the rankings

In 2006, dementia was Australia's fourth leading cause of death and made up about 5% of deaths. Its share has roughly doubled since.

It has overtaken ischaemic heart disease along the way, as cardiovascular deaths have declined. Between 2016 and 2025, dementia deaths rose 37.3%.

The broader picture is moving the other way. The ABS found overall mortality has largely returned to long-term pre-pandemic trends, with death rates falling in 2025.

Women carry most of the burden. Dementia has been the leading cause of death for Australian women since 2016, and women made up 61.1% of dementia deaths in 2025.

The other leading causes of death in 2025 were ischaemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease including stroke, lung cancer and chronic respiratory diseases.

The funding ask

Dementia Australia chief executive Prof. Tanya Buchanan said the numbers show the need for "more recognition and funding to support people living with dementia, their families and carers."

"Despite the growing impact of dementia, investment in specific services, supports and prevention have not kept the same pace, and the stigma that surrounds dementia continues," she said.

Buchanan put the number of Australians living with dementia at an estimated 446,500, with another 1.7 million involved in their care. Without significant intervention, she said, the number of people with the disease is expected to pass one million by 2065.

Her organization is pressing for continued investment in the National Dementia Action Plan. No government response to the new figures has been published yet.

That is an advocacy group's ask, and it comes with no dollar figure attached. The data show how many people died. They do not show which spending would change that number.

Asthma deaths up again

Asthma killed 484 Australians in 2025, up from 478 in 2024. That is the highest count in a decade. Women account for almost two-thirds of those deaths.

Asthma Australia chief executive Kate Miranda said poorly controlled asthma raises the risk and is a preventable factor behind many deaths.

"We have effective treatments and clear clinical guidelines, yet too many Australians are not getting the care they need to stay well," she said.

Miranda pointed to research showing the share of adults with well-controlled asthma is falling. Many use little or no preventer treatment, and adherence among people on inhaled corticosteroids is worsening.

Too many patients rely only on reliever medication, she said. "But it doesn't treat the underlying inflammation."

She added that clinical guidelines have shifted toward anti-inflammatory reliever therapy, and that older Australians in particular may still be using medications they were prescribed as children.

Drugs and suicide

Drug-induced deaths rose to 2,063 in 2025 from 2,007 in 2024. Opioids and benzodiazepines were most often involved. Stimulants, including methamphetamine, drove the growth: 275 more deaths than the previous year.

"While opioids and benzodiazepines continue to be the most common drug classes involved in these deaths, there has been substantial growth in deaths involving stimulants," Moran said.

Suicide remained the leading cause of premature death, with more than 3,000 deaths in 2025. Lifeline is on 13 11 14, and 13YARN is on 13 92 76.

The global projection

A study published Oct. 12 in JAMA Neurology, led by researchers at the University of New South Wales Sydney, points to the same pressure worldwide. It analyzed data on more than 38,000 people across 18 countries and territories.

The researchers estimate new dementia cases will rise from 11.4 million in 2023 to 24.7 million in 2050, an increase of more than 116%. UNSW said dementia already affects more than 57 million people globally.

Incidence was higher among women than men, and higher in low- and middle-income countries than in wealthy ones.

Prof. Henry Brodaty, a co-author, said the findings reinforce the need to invest in prevention. "Population ageing means we cannot simply wait for people to develop dementia and then respond," he said.

Senior author Prof. Perminder Sachdev called the higher rates in poorer countries "particularly concerning" because those regions often have the fewest resources for prevention, diagnosis and care.

Whether the National Dementia Action Plan gets the added money Dementia Australia is seeking is unknown. The government has not said.