Dementia has become Australia’s leading cause of death, and a top professor believes screen time is behind a “staggering” spike in young people being diagnosed with the disease.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data released on Friday showed dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, accounted for over 17,500 deaths in 2024, overtaking heart disease as the country’s biggest killer.
Dementia has risen by 39% over the past decade, while mortality rates due to coronary heart diseases have fallen by nearly 90% since they peaked in 1968, although heart disease remains the leading cause of death for men, the ABS said.
There are now an estimated 30,000 Australians with younger onset dementia, and cognitive neuroscience professor Dr Mark Williams told the Sunday Mail the rise in dementia cases in young people was shocking, and likely to be linked to screen use.
“The big, big jump that we’re seeing – and have a lot of data for – is in the 30 to 44-year-old age group, where there has been an almost 400% increase which is really, really staggering,” he said.
“The fact this is increasing at an alarming rate for the young generation is a major concern; the youngest we’ve ever seen is 19 which is really, really scary. And there are probably a lot of people who haven’t yet got the diagnosis – who are in their 20s and 30s.”
“What is going to happen with the 10 to 20-year-olds who have spent their whole life on devices? What is going to happen in 10, 15 or 20 years time?”
Dr Mark Williams said US research showed there had been a corresponding 300% increase in the 45-54 age bracket, and an increase of about 140% in those aged 55 to 65, all of which are classified as early onset dementia.
According to the ABC, chronic lower respiratory diseases, including emphysema and bronchitis, were the third leading cause of death in 2024, and resulted in just over 9,000 deaths.
“Overall deaths caused by respiratory diseases (excluding COVID-19) were at a record low during the first few years of the COVID-19 pandemic, but we’re now seeing a return to numbers recorded before the pandemic. This includes the flu, which caused 827 deaths in 2024,” Lauren Moran, ABS head of mortality statistics, said.
Drug and alcohol-induced deaths both increased in 2024, with drug-induced deaths rising to 1,947, up from 1,766 in 2023, and alcohol-induced deaths rising to 1,765 from 1,700 in the same period.
“Acute toxicity was the main cause of drug-induced deaths. Opioids and other depressants including benzodiazepines were the most common drug class present,” Ms Moran said.
“Long term complications of alcohol use, such as liver cirrhosis, was the main cause of alcohol-induced deaths. The alcohol-induced death rate has increased over the last five years from 5.4 deaths per 100,000 people in 2020 to 5.9 in 2024.”
Suicide was the leading cause of premature death, with a median age of 46.0 years. There were 3,307 people who died by suicide in 2024, equivalent to 12.2 deaths per 100,000 people, and men accounted for just over three quarters.
Header image credit: Pavel Danilyuk (Pexels).
