Health and wellbeing profile

• In 2018, 10.1 per cent of residents rated their health as excellent or very good.
• In 2017, 52.2 per cent of residents reported their health as fair or poor.
• In 2018, 8.4 per cent reported high or very high psychological distress.
• 15.7 per cent of adults sought help for a mental health problem. More females (18.9 per cent) sought help than males (11.6 per cent).

Diagnosed anxiety or depression:

• In 2017, 46 per cent of adults rated their dental health as excellent or very good.
• 20 per cent rated their dental health as poor.

In 2018, almost a quarter of residents (23.3 per cent) had high blood pressure.

The cancer incidence rate per 1000 population is 5.2. The incidence rate is higher for males (5.8) than for females (4.6).

• For every 100 people in Stonnington, 11.6 people live with arthritis, 8.7 have asthma, and 3.8 have cardiovascular disease. Stonnington has 3,902 people living with osteoporosis.
• Notifications for chlamydia per 100,000 population were 725.8, more than double the notifications for Victoria at 345.1.
• In 2020, Stonnington had the most cases of HIV in metropolitan Melbourne.
• Stonnington has a significantly higher Gonococcal infection rate than the state average. It is most common in males aged 25 to 29 years.
• In 2018, bowel cancer screening participation was 35.1 per cent, which is lower than the Victorian measure of 37.6 per cent.

Vaccine-preventable diseases Stonnington continues to have a higher rate of preventable diseases in comparison to Victoria.

• In 2018, 9.8 per cent of residents were obese, significantly less than the Victorian measure of 18.8 per cent. More males (11.2 per cent) were obese than females (8.8 per cent).
• In 2018, almost a third of residents (31 per cent) were pre-obese, the same as the state average. 42.6 per cent of males in Stonnington were pre-obese, higher than the Victorian average for men of 38.4 per cent. 21 per cent of females in Stonnington were pre-obese, slightly lower than the Victorian average for women of 24.3 per cent.

Eat for health

In 2018:

• 44.9 per cent of adults did not meet dietary guidelines for either fruit or vegetable consumption.
• 12.5 per cent of females and 5.1 per cent of males meet the recommended daily vegetable intake.
• 44.1 per cent of females and 47.1 per cent of males meet the recommended daily fruit intake.
• 5.2 per cent of adults report consuming sugar/sweetened soft drinks daily.
• Most adolescents (12–18 years) do not meet recommended guidelines for weight, diet, exercise, and
• screen time.
• Parents are giving their children too many treat foods, with 41 per cent of preschoolers receiving treat foods most days of the week.
• Two-thirds of parents (67 per cent) find it hard to know how much added sugar is in the food products they buy for their children.
• A third of children aged 6 to 13 years (35 per cent) regularly consume sugar-sweetened drinks, with over a quarter of parents (26 per cent) mistakenly believing fruit drinks may be a healthier choice than water.
• 41 per cent of preschoolers (aged 3 to 6 years) have treat foods most days of the week.
• 95 per cent of school-aged children (6 to 13 years) don't eat the recommended daily serves of vegetables.
• Children fully vaccinated at ages 2 and 5 remains lower than the Victorian average.

Active living

• 48.9 per cent of adults do not meet physical activity guidelines. More females (51.9 per cent) than males (46.4 per cent) do not meet physical activity guidelines.
• 13.7 per cent participate in organised sport
• Stonnington residents are more likely to walk, jog or run than do organised sports or activities.
• 51.5 per cent of residents undertake low, very low or no physical exercise.
• 30.1 per cent of adults sit for 7 hours or more on an average weekday.

• 1 in 4 young Victorians (aged 12–25) experience mental illness in any given year.
• 1 in 4 (25 per cent) children and adolescents aged 2 to 17 years in Australia were overweight or obese. Children and adolescents with obesity are five times more likely to be obese than adults.
• 76.1 per cent of children aged four are enrolled in a preschool program in Stonnington. This is significantly lower than the metro Melbourne and state averages of around 84 per cent.

Stonnington has a higher proportion of children who are bullied in years 5 and 6, and a significantly lower proportion of children bullied in years 7 to 9 compared to the state average and the surrounding areas.

• In 2017, Aboriginal students had a lower passed subject percentage in vocational education and training subjects in Stonnington (62.2 per cent) in comparison to Greater Melbourne (70.4 per cent) and Victoria (70.8 per cent).

• 81 per cent of heterosexual women use contraception.
• Women are more likely to use oral contraception than condoms.
• In 2018, 66.5 per cent of eligible women (aged 20 to 69 years) had a Cervical screen, which is higher than the Victorian measure of 61.5 per cent.
• In 2018, 46.4 per cent of eligible women had a breast cancer screen, which is lower than the Victoria measure of 52 per cent.
• Over ten years, herpes virus (Varicella zoster) infections (unspecified) have more than doubled.