Kidney disease

Latest release

Contains key statistics and information about kidney disease and its prevalence in Australia

Reference period
2022
Released
15/12/2023
Next release Unknown

Key statistics

  • 246,200 people (1.0%) had kidney disease in 2022
  • Kidney disease prevalence has remained steady over the last decade, from 0.8% in 2011–12 to 1.0% in 2022
  • One in twenty (4.9%) people aged 75 years and over had kidney disease

These statistics form part of the National Health Survey 2022. More information on other topics of interest from the survey are available on the National Health Survey 2022 page.

Kidney disease is a chronic condition in which a person's kidney function is reduced or damaged. The kidney’s main task is to clean blood and filter waste out through urine. When kidneys aren't functioning as they should, waste gradually builds up in a persons' body, and this can have a devastating impact on their health. This condition is called kidney disease – the loss of normal kidney function over time. It can also be called kidney failure, which is the end-stage of kidney disease[1]. Kidney disease is also often associated with other chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease[2].

Kidney disease prevalence

Kidney disease prevalence has remained steady over the last decade, from 0.8% (181,900) of people in 2011–12 to 1.0% (264,200) in 2022. Males and females had similar rates of kidney disease (0.8% and 1.1%). Like other chronic conditions, prevalence of kidney disease increases with age. People aged 75 years and over were more likely than any other age group to have kidney disease (4.9%).

Characteristics of people with kidney disease

In 2022, people:

  • Living with disability were more likely to have kidney disease than those with no disability (2.0% compared to 0.5%)
  • Living in areas of most disadvantage were more likely to have kidney disease than those in areas of least disadvantage (1.6% compared to 0.6%).

One in two (50.0%) people aged 15 years and over with kidney disease rated their health as fair or poor, this was more than three times higher than those without kidney disease (14.6%).

  1. The proportion for kidney disease has a high margin of error and should be used with caution.

Data downloads

See the National Health Survey 2022 data downloads for the full suite of available data. Data relating to Kidney disease can be found in tables:

  • TABLE 1 Summary health characteristics, 2001 to 2022
  • TABLE 2 Summary health characteristics, by states and territories
  • TABLE 3 Long-term health conditions, by age and sex
  • TABLE 4 Selected long-term health conditions, by population characteristics
  • TABLE 5 Selected long-term health conditions, by health risk factors and health status
  • TABLE 15 Number of chronic conditions, by population characteristics, by age
  • TABLE 16 Comorbidity of selected chronic conditions, by age and sex.

Footnotes

  1. Kidney Health Australia, 'What is kidney disease?', https://kidney.org.au/your-kidneys/what-is-kidney-disease; accessed 15/11/2023.
  2. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, ‘Chronic kidney disease: Australian facts’, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/chronic-kidney-disease/chronic-kidney-disease/contents/risk-factors/cardiovascular-disease; accessed 15/11/2023.

Media release

See National Health Survey 2022 media release for more information.

Methodology

Scope

Includes:

  • all usual residents in Australia aged 0+ years living in private dwellings.
  • urban and rural areas in all states and territories, excluding very remote parts of Australia and discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities.

Geography

The data available includes estimates for:

  • Australia
  • States and territories

Source

The National Health Survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Medications data from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Collection method

Face-to-face interview with an Australian Bureau of Statistics Interviewer.

Linkage to the Person Level Integrated Data Asset.  

Concepts, sources and methods

Health conditions are presented using a classification which is based on the 10th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10).

History of changes

Full history of changes.

View full methodology
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