Regional Mental Health
The majority of Australians believe themselves to be in good health, with just 14.9% of Australians assessing their own health as ‘fair’ or ‘poor’[1] in 2014-15. However, Australians living in regional areas were more likely to rate their own health as ‘fair’ or ‘poor’ than those living in metropolitan areas, at 16.4% compared to 14.2%.
Mental Health - A Regional Concern
The majority of Australians believe themselves to be in good health, with just 14.9% of Australians assessing their own health as ‘fair’ or ‘poor’[1] in 2014-15. However, Australians living in regional areas were more likely to rate their own health as ‘fair’ or ‘poor’ than those living in metropolitan areas, at 16.4% compared to 14.2%.
Mental health outcomes are particularly worse in regional areas by comparison to metropolitan areas. Australians living in regional areas are more likely to suffer from mental and behavioural problems than those living in metropolitan regions and, to a lesser extent, regional populations are also experiencing higher rates of psychological distress than their metropolitan counterparts.
Australians living outside metropolitan areas experience different challenges to those in the cities. Volatility in the agricultural sector is a key challenge, with high risks of impacts from global commodities prices and natural disasters (such floods and droughts)[2]. Social isolation is also a risk factor, particularly in remote areas. Persons who identify as being within the LGBTQAI+ community may also struggle to be accepted in regional communities, more so than in metropolitan areas[3].
Consistent with higher prevalence of mental health issues, suicide rates are also higher in regional Australia. The suicide rate in regional Australia (for the period between 2011 and 2015) was 14.8 suicides per 100,000 persons, compared to 10.1 suicides in metropolitan areas.
Prevalence of Health Issues, Regional vs Metropolitan Australia, 2014-15
Source: PHIDU (2019)
[1] Options included: poor, fair, good, very good and excellent.
[2] Australia Counselling. Depression in Rural Australia: What Are the Causes?
[3] National Rural Health Alliance Inc. Mental Health in Rural and Remote Australia Fact Sheet – December 2017.
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