Asthma deaths reach decade-high levels and number of Australians dying of dementia grows

<p>Dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, accounted for more than 10% of all deaths for the first time, new data reveals</p><ul><li><p>Get our <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/email-newsletters?CMP=cvau_sfl">breaking news email</a>, <a href="https://app.adjust.com/w4u7jx3">free app</a> or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/series/full-story?CMP=cvau_sfl">daily news podcast</a></p></li></ul><p>Dementia has accounted for more than 10% of all deaths for the first time, while the number of people dying from asthma is at decade-high levels, new data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reveals.</p><p>There were 188,421 deaths registered in 2025. Of these, 19,019 deaths were caused by dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/causes-death/causes-death-australia/2025">the ABS deaths data</a> released on Tuesday shows. It has been the leading cause of death in <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/dementia-australias-leading-cause-death">Australia since 2024</a>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/oct/27/asthma-deaths-reach-decade-high-australia-dementia-deaths-growing-abs-data">Continue reading...</a>