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Aussies now taller, but fatter: ABS study

4:22pm October 29, 2012

Ever found yourself insisting you were of average height? Or taller?

Well now you can know for sure because the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has run the measuring tape over 30,000 Australians for the first time in almost two decades.

At the moment the average man is 175.6cm. That's 0.8cm taller than when the last survey was taken in 1995.

The average woman in 2012 stands 161.8cm tall. That's 0.4cm more than 17 years ago.

But as ABS assistant statistician David Zago notes, while Australians are a "tiny bit taller, we're much heavier".

Men now weigh 85.9kg (up 3.9kg from 1995) while the average woman is 71.1kg (up 4.1kg).

Waistlines now measure 97.9cm for men and 87.7 cm for women. That's 1.7cm and 1.9cm larger, respectively, than in 2008.

The Australian Health Survey, released on Monday, reveals that 63 per cent of Australians are overweight or obese - up from 61 per cent in 2008 and 56 per cent in 1995.

The prevalence of overweight or obesity in children has remained stable at 25 per cent since four years ago.

Despite these alarming figures, more than half (56 per cent) of adults consider themselves to be in very good or excellent health. Just four per cent rate their own health as poor.

Mr Zago says people take into consideration other factors when assessing their own wellbeing.

"We do find that people that have more conditions are more likely to report they're in bad health," he told AAP.

"There is a relationship - but it's not perfect."

Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek was also quizzed about the apparent discrepancy between fact and fiction when it comes to people's fitness.

"It's a good thing that the majority of Australians see themselves as healthy or very healthy or indeed in excellent health," she told AAP.

"(But) we obviously still have a problem with what we're eating and our activity levels because we see that overweight and obesity of adults at least is still increasing."

In positive news, the number of adults drinking more than two standard drinks per day on average dropped from 20.9 per cent of the population in 2008 to 19.5 per cent in 2012.

Rates of daily smoking dropped to 16.3 per cent from 18.9 per cent in 2008 and 22.4 per cent in 2001.

Ms Plibersek said the reduced smoking rate was due to a suite of measures taken by the present and past governments.

Labor's 2010 decision to increase the tobacco excise by 25 per cent was "a very significant factor" because people, especially kids, were price sensitive.

The ABS survey shows the top long-term conditions experienced in Australia are: arthritis (3.3 million people), mental and behaviour conditions (three million), asthma (2.3 million) and heart disease (one million).

In 2012 some 3.1 million people - or 21.5 per cent of the population - had high blood pressure.

More information from the Australian Health Survey will be released over the next two years, including data from the first ever "biomedical collection".

Participants volunteered blood and urine samples which will allow the ABS to report on indicators including glucose and cholesterol levels and vitamin deficiencies.

© AAP 2012

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