{"id":634105,"date":"2026-08-13T00:44:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T00:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/634105\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T00:44:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T00:44:18","slug":"census-creates-opportunity-to-track-prevalence-of-mental-health-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/634105\/","title":{"rendered":"Census creates opportunity to track prevalence of mental health conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Experts are expecting to see a rise in the number of mental health conditions across the country in the census, which they hope will provide a fuller picture of community wellbeing.<\/p>\n

Tuesday night’s census was just the second time Australians have been asked to report long-term health issues.<\/p>\n

It will give the nation’s statisticians a comparative piece of data to see the shift in population health since the 2021 census, when about one in 11 Australians reported having a long-term mental health condition<\/a>, ahead of arthritis and asthma.<\/p>\n

At that time, mental health conditions were highest in the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia, where about one in 10 people lived with such conditions, which can include depression and anxiety.<\/p>\n

“It provides really important information at an Australian population level for the prevalence of these conditions, and obviously tracking whether things have changed over time,” biostatistician Tim Slade said of the data.<\/p>\n

Professor Slade, from the University of Sydney’s Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, expected the latest census to reflect a rise in mental health reports, with recent non-census research showing these conditions remain persistent challenges in the community.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The census again asked Australians to report long-term health conditions, which have lasted more than six months. (Supplied: Australian Bureau of Statistics)<\/p>\n

In July, Professor Slade’s group published data showing more than one in three young Australians aged 16 to 24 reported mental health conditions by 2022.<\/p>\n

“But we have seen an increase in the general population, the whole adult population, in mental health problems,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said the data produced by Tuesday’s census would be valuable to researchers.<\/p>\n

“I’m very interested in seeing these results,” he said.<\/p>\n

A chance to compare amid new challenges<\/p>\n

The 2021 census took place amid COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns, but mental health was already a rising concern before the pandemic.<\/p>\n

“In terms of mental health challenges \u2026 we were seeing a rise in mental health problems long before the COVID pandemic,” Professor Slade said.<\/p>\n

“COVID has had an impact on the mental health of the population and particularly among some subgroups of the population.”<\/p>\n

This week’s national survey happened amid similar challenging social conditions, but instead of lockdowns and social distancing, hip-pocket issues such as housing affordability and the cost of living are occupying the minds of many.<\/p>\n

Mental health service provider Beyond Blue chief executive Georgie Harman said there had been a rise in demand for services across Australia.<\/p>\n

“We know from our own data that psychological distress relating to financial pressure has been increasing over the past four years, which is an important signal given that money worries and mental health conditions can influence each other,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

she said.<\/p>\n

“We’re also seeing increased demand for immediate support through our services, and indications that anxiety and depression symptoms may be getting more severe.<\/p>\n

“The good news is that we can get onto these issues as soon as they start to emerge and take actions that prevent them from snowballing.”<\/p>\n

\"Beyond<\/p>\n

Georgie Harman says the years since the last census have not been without various pressures. (ABC News: Nicole Asher)<\/p>\n

Regions could benefit from mental health data<\/p>\n

Census data helps government and non-government groups decide where to distribute resources.<\/p>\n

“The census data is another useful source of information that helps many organisations make sense of what’s happening and plan for the future so that the whole community benefits,” Ms Harman said.<\/p>\n

Those living outside major cities, including Steph Schmidt, a psychologist and farmer who lives in South Australia’s Mid North, are hoping for more investment in mental health support in the regions.<\/p>\n

“From what I’ve seen on the ground, I wouldn’t necessarily think that [the prevalence of mental health conditions] is going to have gone down a whole lot in the last couple of years,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s an ongoing issue, whether you are rural, whether you are urban.”<\/p>\n

\"woman<\/p>\n

Steph Schmidt hopes the data of this year’s census can help inform regional mental health support. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Ms Schmidt said while awareness of mental health conditions had increased in recent years, the resources available to communities remained limited.<\/p>\n

She said that could extend to diagnosis, and if people were not able to receive clinical assistance for their mental health concerns, they may not be aware of conditions they live with.<\/p>\n

That could mean a gap in census data among regional Australians.<\/p>\n

“It’s only capturing those that are diagnosed as well, so it is tricky,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ms Schmidt said.<\/p>\n

“On the other hand, it’s also helpful to, I guess, discriminate almost between getting the diagnosis and self-diagnosis.”<\/p>\n

Ms Schmidt said closing the gap between urban and regional spending on services was important, and results from the census may help bridge the divide.<\/p>\n

“Things like the census and the responses that come through I hope do help inform where some of that money goes and the services that are supported,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I think that’s where it is really important to answer honestly with where your experience has been so that it can help government, or also even charities and non-government organisations to direct where supports are put.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Experts are expecting to see a rise in the number of mental health conditions across the country in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[276],"tags":[3083,3457,45457,160,64,164,18,135,5455,19,17,167,502,154,2988],"class_list":["post-634105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-anxiety","tag-arthritis","tag-census","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-depression","tag-eire","tag-health","tag-health-policy","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-pandemic","tag-statistics"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117085437061351948","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}