From 2016 to 2020, 61 people in Ararat died from dementia-related causes, at a rate of 102.6 per 100,000 population or a fifth higher than the Australian rate.

The data comes from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's Mortality Over Regions and Time report, which looks at the specific causes of death from across the country.

The latest data from the report has detailed the exact causes of death for the region between 2016-2020 and painted a picture of how Ararat residents were most at risk.

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For women in Ararat, the biggest killer was dementia, with 34 deaths in the reporting period, followed by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart disease.

In men, the biggest killer was heart disease, with 36 deaths, followed by dementia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Ararat was unique among other similar local government areas such as Horsham and Northern Grampians, who both recorded heart disease as their highest cause of death - in line with worldwide totals from the World Health Organisation.

Of the years contained in the report, 2017 was the deadliest in Ararat, with 74 deaths.

Since 2016 Ararat has also seen a decrease in the median age of deaths, from 88.4 in 2016 to 85.4 in 2020.

However, Ararat's suicide rate was lower than the Australian rate, with a rate of 17.3 per 100,000 people across the reporting period compared to the Australian rate of 19.4 per 100,000.

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