Incontinence by Numbers

It affects one in three Australians and costs $100 billion a year. Here, In Crowd editor Anja Christoffersen explores why that doesn’t add up.

In Australia, 37 percent of us wear prescription glasses every day. What if I told you that a similar proportion of people experienced incontinence? 

Incontinence – the involuntary loss of bowel or bladder control – is something we, as a society, hide. Which is why it’s far more common than most of us realise.

Research found that 70 percent of Australians lack awareness of incontinence. A recent consumer survey from Continence Health Australia found that 75 percent of people believe incontinence only affects older people, while 63 percent think it is either mostly experienced by women who have given birth, or men with prostate issues. 

The reality is much more diverse and nuanced. 

Incontinence sits at the intersection of chronic disease, mental health, disability, stigma and broader system challenges. 

In Australia, 7.3 million people over the age of 15 live with incontinence – that’s 1 in 3 people. By 2032, 1.3 million more Australians will be living with incontinence. This isn’t a niche health condition. It’s a growing, silent epidemic.

When we do hear about incontinence, it’s usually associated with age. We’re mostly exposed to it through advertisements shot in nursing homes with smiling grandmas and grandpas. This image of incontinence isn’t only patronising – it’s the statistical minority.

People under 65 years old make up 70 percent of those with incontinence. And 90 percent of people with incontinence live in the community, not in aged care.

While incontinence impacts everyone, women are twice as likely to be affected than men. This gender disparity – and women’s bladder incontinence often falling under ‘women’s health’ – contributes to the systemic underfunding of incontinence services. 

Urinary icontinence is common – impacting three in 10 Australians and experienced by one in three women who’ve given birth. Discussions on bowel incontinence carry a heavier weight of stigma, as it’s less common – impacting one in 30 people. If you experience both bowel and bladder incontinence, you’re among four percent of Australians.

Across the board, while awareness is low, the price of incontinence for people and the economy is high. 

Every year, incontinence costs Australia $100.4 billion, made up of $66.6 billion in financial costs, and $33.8 billion in lost wellbeing. To put this emotional suffering into economic terms, that $33.8 billion equates to 145,933 years of healthy life lost.

Understandably, incontinence drives ongoing healthcare needs. Over 40 percent of people impacted see an allied health professional, and 13 percent require mental health support. This is within the context of heavy stigma disincentivising seeking care, as we know 62 percent of people with incontinence never seek professional help. 

Incontinence is under-reported, under-researched and often diagnosed late. This contributes to further system gaps, with a shortage of trained continence professionals and limited access in rural and remote areas. We are already reaching a breaking point – even when two thirds of people with incontinence aren’t yet engaging with health services for this issue.

To put the current cost into scale, the annual cost of primary care (GPs) for the entire Australian population is $89.1 billion – less than the economic cost of incontinence. 

Those with incontinence are also forced to reach into their wallets to get by day-to-day. Each year in Australia, $705.8 million is spent on continence aids, and over $630 million of this is out-of-pocket consumer spend. 

The impact of incontinence is something we can no longer afford to ignore.

Incontinence affects more Australians than many of the conditions we prioritise for funding, like diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. And yet, it remains largely invisible in policy, funding and public conversation.

We’ve built a system that normalises people forking out thousands of their own funds to ‘manage’ a condition affecting one in three Australians, while underinvesting in prevention and treatment. The result is predictable: delayed care, worsening outcomes, workforce drop-off and billions lost – not just in dollars, but in dignity, participation and quality of life.

We cannot afford to continue treating incontinence as invisible. Because the cost of ignoring it is already being paid by millions of Australians, every single day.