ADHD Prevalence and Diagnosis Rates in Australia

How common is ADHD in Australia, and how much has diagnosis and treatment activity grown? A sourced breakdown of what AIHW and ABS have actually published on ADHD prevalence and medication dispensing, with each figure's real scope stated next to it.

ADHD medication dispensing under Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) has grown sharply since the mid-2000s, and one pattern inside that growth stands out: AIHW's own data shows the group most likely to be dispensed ADHD medication changes between the teenage years and adulthood. Boys are dispensed at a higher rate than girls throughout the teenage years, but by 2023-24, the rate for adults over 18 was higher for women than men, according to AIHW. The rest of this page sources that finding directly from AIHW, plus what Australia's own surveys say about how common ADHD actually is, by age group and by scope.

ADHD statistics in Australia at a glance

Every figure below states its own scope. National PBS/RPBS dispensing data measures how many people are being treated, not how many people have ADHD; survey data measures reported prevalence directly. Read each row against its own Scope column rather than comparing rows against each other; full sourcing is in the Methodology section and the Sources list below.

The sex-ratio reversal, in AIHW's own words

AIHW states the reversal outright in its own reporting on ADHD medication dispensing: "While males under 18 years of age had higher population and prescription rates than females during the period, by 2023-24, the rates for adults over 18 years of age were higher for females than males." AIHW's body text adds the detail behind it: "Total ADHD medication population and prescription rates for males under 18 years were higher than for females in the same age groups for each year, whereas population rates for females in the 18-24 and 25-44 age groups overtook those for males in these age groups for the first time in 2022-23." Within the teenage years specifically, the 12-17 age group had the highest population dispensing rate, and boys in that group were dispensed ADHD medication at nearly double the rate of girls, 9% against 5%. That teen gap does not carry through to adulthood.

A separate UNSW Sydney analysis of prescription records held in the ABS Person Level Integrated Data Asset, covering adults aged 20 to 64, corroborates the scale of the adult-side shift without being needed to establish it: the analysis found 2.36% of adults in that age group were taking ADHD medicines as of 2025, up from 0.35% in the 2016-17 financial year, and that women are now more likely than men to take ADHD medicines. Treat this as additional magnitude on the finding AIHW already reports on its own, not as a second, independent proof of the reversal itself.

How much has ADHD treatment grown?

The population rate for ADHD medication dispensed under the PBS increased from 2 patients per 1,000 population in 2004-05 to 22 per 1,000 in 2023-24, according to AIHW. In 2023-24 alone, more than 4.6 million ADHD-related prescriptions were dispensed to just under 600,000 patients. Of those prescriptions, 87% were for psychostimulant medications, the usual first-line treatment.

How common is ADHD among Australian children? What the surveys say

The last national study of mental disorder rates in Australian children was the 2013-14 Young Minds Matter survey, according to the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. In that survey, ADHD was the most common disorder for children aged 4 to 11 (8.2%), and the most common among boys specifically (11%), according to AIHW. Looking at the narrower 6-11 age band across two survey cycles, reported ADHD fell from 13% in 1998 to 9.2% in 2013-14.

A newer national survey, Young Minds: Our Future, is now under way. It is a national study and the third Australian child and adolescent survey of mental health and wellbeing, the first in more than 12 years, according to the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. Fieldwork began in November 2025 and will run for about 12 months. Its primary aim is to update national prevalence rates of mental health disorders for Australian children and adolescents, including changes since 2013-14. Results are expected in 2027, so the 2013-14 Young Minds Matter figure above remains the latest published estimate until then.

ADHD within the disability-identified cohort: a narrower, different number

A separate ABS survey, the 2022 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers, measures something different: among children and young people aged 0 to 24 who already have disability, which single condition causes them the most problems. Over two thirds of that group (67.1%) reported a mental or behavioural disorder as the main condition causing the most problems, and ADHD was that main condition for 17.3% of them, up from 7.2% in 2018. Within it, children aged 0-14 reported ADHD as their main condition at 23.5%, more than twice the rate of those aged 15-24 (10.0%), and males (20.6%) more often than females (12.1%).

This is a rate within a disability-identified population, not a general child-prevalence estimate, and it should not be read against the 8.2% Young Minds Matter figure above; the two surveys measure different populations and different things.

Methodology and scope

This page compiles publicly published figures from four sources: AIHW's national PBS/RPBS ADHD medication dispensing data, AIHW's reporting of the 2013-14 Young Minds Matter child mental health survey, the ABS 2022 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers, and a UNSW Sydney analysis of ABS PLIDA prescription records for adults aged 20 to 64. It does not include our own transaction or listing data; we hold none.

Every figure states its own scope next to it: national PBS/RPBS dispensing data, a specific age band, a disability-identified cohort, or a single national survey year, and none should be read outside that scope. All figures were fetched directly from the sources below on 9 August 2026; the next national child prevalence survey, Young Minds: Our Future, is not expected to publish results before 2027.

Common questions

Sources

• AIHW: ADHD medications dispensed over time
• AIHW: Australia's children, children with mental illness
• ABS: Children and young people with disability, 2022
• UNSW Sydney: New data shows sharp rise in adult ADHD medication use
• Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing: Young Minds: Our Future

Related reading

• How ADHD is diagnosed in Australia
• ADHD assessment cost and wait time in Australia
• ADHD medication prescribing rules by state