The number of Australians smoking daily has dropped, more adults than ever have a mental health condition, and less than ten per cent of us are eating the recommended amount of fruit and veggies.

That’s according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The National Health Survey provides an insight into the health of Australians in 2022 by collecting information on long-term health conditions, smoking, weight, alcohol consumption and physical activity.

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Here’s a snapshot of some of the key statistics from the 2022 National Health Survey: 

• Eight in ten people had at least one long-term health condition
• One in two people had at least one chronic condition
• More than one in four (26.8%) of adults exceeded the Australian Adult Alcohol Guideline in 2022
• 65.8% of adults were overweight or obese
• One in ten adults were current daily smokers in 2022, down from 22.4% in 2001
• Prevalence of heart, stroke and vascular disease has increased by 4.1% since 2001
• The prevalence of high cholesterol has increased by 6.8% since 2011–12
• The physical activity guidelines were met by 23.9% of people aged 15 years and over

Robert Long, who is the ABS director of health statistics, said almost three in five or 58.3 per cent of adults had never smoked, which has gone up in the last decade from 51.1 per cent in 2011–12.

“One in seven adults had used e-cigarettes and vaping devices at least once in their life,” he said.

The survey showed eight in ten Australians had at least one long-term health condition, and half had at least one selected chronic condition.

“Three in four adults with high measured blood pressure did not report having hypertension,” Mr Long said. 

“This suggests that many people with high measured blood pressure remain undiagnosed.”

More than four in 10 adults were eating the recommended daily intake of fruit, but only 6.5 per cent ate the recommended daily intake of vegetables, according to the data.

Almost twice the proportion of adults reported that they do not usually eat fruit daily in 2022 when compared to over a decade ago – up from 6.3 per cent in 2011–12 to 12.0 per cent in 2022.

“On average, we were doing 69 minutes of physical activity every day and nearly half of us spent most of our work day sitting,” Mr Long said.

The findings are based on responses from about 13,100 households across Australia collected from January 2022 to April 2023.