Why does Australia have the highest rates of eating disorders in the world?

As Australia faces a growing crisis, we speak to two women with lived experience of eating disorders about barriers to treatment and how to support those affected.

A new global study has found that Australia has the highest estimated rates of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa in the world. The research estimates that more than 1,000 Australians per 100,000 people are living with one of the two eating disorders – a figure more than four times the global average.

And while the findings only account for anorexia and bulimia, they point to a much broader issue: eating disorders are a growing and seriously underfunded public health concern in Australia.

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Growing up as a magazine-head in the early 2000s, it was impossible not to come across content that either glorified eating disorders or essentially told you how to get one. The fashion industry (and, by extension, fashion media) played a major role in establishing an unattainable, underweight physique as the ‘beauty standard’, causing a lot of damage in the process.

While thinness has always been the most represented body type in mainstream media, by the late 2010s, some progress was being made. Ageing millennials (myself included) were starting to speak out against the toxic beauty standards they grew up with; social media gave rise to more curve and plus-size visibility, and some fashion brands began embracing size diversity on the runways. The message to women, which had always been to hate your body, was changing.

Fast-forward to 2026, the industry has seemingly slipped backwards. Celebrities once famous for their curves are shrinking. Ozempic is normalised. Plus-sized models are struggling to find work as designers cut back on size offerings. Social media platforms that originally promoted body diversity are now filled with ‘before and after’ weight loss transformations and problematic what I eat in a day videos.

That concern has since been reinforced by research from Butterfly Foundation. In 2025, it reported that the number of people impacted by eating disorders had increased by 21 per cent since 2012, and alarmingly, eating disorders among young people aged 10 to 19 increased by 86 per cent. Today, eating disorders (EDs) remain one of the deadliest mental illnesses, and the most underfunded, research-wise.

Is social media to blame?

According to Melissa Wilton, Head of Communications and Engagement at Butterfly Foundation, while social media alone doesn’t cause eating disorders, it does create additional pressures. “Research shows there is a link between spending more time on social media platforms or engaging with more appearance-related content on social media and greater body image concerns and disordered eating among young people,” she says.

“This could be for a number of reasons, including that people engage in greater self-comparison on social media and are more likely to evaluate their own appearance against others negatively, and that feedback on social media (such as likes and comments), drives further social comparison and internalisation of beauty ideals.”

Accessing treatment for eating disorders

Australian author Lucinda Price (aka Froomes) speaks openly about how she developed (and subsequently, “fully recovered”) from an ED in her aptly-titled book, All I Ever Wanted Was To Be Hot. As the name suggests, Y2K celebrity culture and diet culture played a key part in her journey.

“Disordered eating for me started when I was 21. I went on a diet, started thinking about food constantly, and as a result began to binge eat on ‘cheat days’. By 23, this had morphed into anorexia. As I began to recover from that, the binge and purge cycle came back but I realise now it was the first step to getting better.”

According to Froomes, more government funding for research on EDs is needed in order to treat it. “It was so difficult to find an expert who had appointments available when I was unwell. I had to turn to a university trial, which turned out to be very helpful – it was testing the effectiveness of online treatment for eating disorders. The trial was successful, and it is now available to the public, which is fantastic because it really was the most pivotal step for me towards recovery.”

Inclusive research and recovery

Writer and comedian Skye Cusack also experienced barriers when trying to seek help for an eating disorder, and is proof to Froomes’ point that not all EDs are created equally, and shouldn’t be treated as such.

“Often people look at me, a fat person of colour, and they think I developed bulimia because I wanted to be thinner and conform to Eurocentric beauty standards. However, for most of my life my weight has been the furthest thing from my mind… I actually developed bulimia due to trauma and pre-existing mental health issues,” she explains.

“Seeking support was difficult for me for several reasons, most notably being fatphobia in the medical industry. I spent most of my recovery living in a rural town with limited resources and less inclusive education for medical practitioners. I had to fight for many years to get the correct diagnosis as many doctors felt I couldn’t have bulimia because of the way I looked.”

Skye says there needs to be more inclusive research and education for medical and mental health professionals to reduce fatphobia. “I was put at severe risk for several years because doctors spent more time focusing on my body than my behaviours and symptoms, which only further mimicked and feds into the dialogue from my eating disorder. I hope in time everyone, particularly professionals, can unlearn what someone with an eating disorder ‘should look like’ so other plus-size people can get safe and effective treatment.”

What you can do to help

Further to more research and resources, Froomes says there are things you can do on an individual level to help give people experiencing disordered eating your support. “Try to limit that ‘fat talk’ you engage in with others. You would be surprised by how many people around you have a silent or invisible eating disorder,” she says. “Negative comments about weight and food intake, even if it’s a joke, can have an impact on everyone. It normalises diet culture, and going on a diet is the number one predictor for developing an eating disorder, which was my experience.”

“On a broader scale, I think that representation of different bodies in the media matters. Society is terrified of fatness. Showing fat people having fun in their lives and not hating themselves and their bodies is important to prove that fatness isn’t something to be deathly afraid of. We are not all meant to be a size six, and the pursuit of that figure can strip a lot of joy out of your life.”

Adding to this, Skye says, “Anyone can have an eating disorder and it can present in a number of ways. If someone tells you they’re worried about themselves, believe them. You don’t have to try to cure someone or try to logic away their thoughts and feelings. Just sitting there and saying “I believe you and I love you” can do more than you may ever know.”

This article was originally published on September 24, 2025 and has been updated.

For support with eating disorders and body image, call the Butterfly National Helpline on 1800 ED HOPE (1800 33 4673) or visit www.butterfly.org.au to chat online or email, 7 days a week, 8am to midnight (AEST).