Australia’s population is ageing rapidly. While cardiovascular disease (CVD) death rates have fallen substantially over recent decades, older Australians continue to experience a high burden of disease, hospitalisations, and dependence on cardiovascular medicines. This dashboard explores whether Australia is truly winning the battle against cardiovascular disease, or whether population ageing is creating new challenges for the healthcare system.
Key takeaway: Australia’s population structure shifted noticeably towards older age groups between 2000 and 2020, with a larger proportion of Australians aged 65 years and over and a relatively smaller share of younger age groups.
What this means: Population ageing increases the number of Australians at higher risk of cardiovascular disease, creating greater demand for prevention, treatment, and healthcare services in the future.
Key takeaway: Cardiovascular disease burden increases dramatically with age, particularly after age 65. Males consistently experience higher DALY rates than females across most age groups.
What this means: Older Australians bear the greatest health burden from cardiovascular disease, highlighting the importance of targeted prevention and healthy ageing strategies.
Key takeaway: Cardiovascular hospitalisation rates rise sharply across older age groups, with Australians aged 75 years and over experiencing the highest rates.
What this means: As Australia’s population continues to age, demand for hospital services related to cardiovascular disease is likely to increase, placing additional pressure on healthcare resources and planning.
Key takeaway: Cardiovascular death rates have declined substantially for males, females, and the overall population since 1980, demonstrating major improvements in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
What this means: Although fewer Australians are dying from cardiovascular disease, the condition remains a significant public health challenge because many people continue to live with and manage cardiovascular conditions.
Key takeaway: The use of major cardiovascular medicines has remained consistently high over the past decade, with lipid-modifying agents showing particularly strong growth.
What this means: Ongoing reliance on cardiovascular medicines suggests that long-term disease management and prevention remain essential despite improvements in cardiovascular mortality rates.
Australia has made significant progress in reducing cardiovascular disease mortality over the past four decades. Death rates have fallen substantially for males, females, and the overall population since 1980, reflecting improvements in prevention, treatment, and healthcare access.
However, the evidence presented in this dashboard demonstrates that cardiovascular disease remains a major challenge in an ageing Australia. Disease burden and hospitalisation rates increase sharply with age, while the continued high use of cardiovascular medicines indicates an ongoing need for long-term disease management.
Overall, Australia is succeeding in reducing deaths from cardiovascular disease, but population ageing is likely to increase future healthcare demand. These findings suggest that health policy should focus not only on reducing mortality, but also on supporting healthy ageing and managing the growing burden of cardiovascular disease.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2025). Heart, stroke and vascular disease: Australian facts. Australian Government. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/heart-stroke-vascular-diseases/hsvd-facts
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2025). Burden of disease for cardiovascular disease by age and sex. Australian Government. https://www.aihw.gov.au
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2025). Cardiovascular disease hospitalisation rates. Australian Government. https://www.aihw.gov.au
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2025). Cardiovascular disease death rates, underlying cause, 1980–2024. Australian Government. https://www.aihw.gov.au
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2025). Medicines for cardiovascular disease. Australian Government. https://www.aihw.gov.au
This dashboard was developed as part of the Data Visualisation and Communication course at RMIT University.
All data used in this project were obtained from publicly available datasets provided by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).