Global Women's Health Index digital media kit
EMBARGOED: 12:01AM AEST, WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2026

KEY FINDINGS SUMMARY

EMBARGOED: 12:01AM AEST, WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2026

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The Hologic Global Women’s Health Index:
Global results & Australia’s performance​

Key findings summary

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About The Hologic Global Women’s Health Index

• The Hologic Global Women’s Health Index
  (The Index) is one of the largest global reports dedicated
  exclusively to women's health and wellbeing, tracking outcomes
  across 144 countries and territories, covering 97 per cent of the
  global adult population.1

• Five years ago, leading women’s health company Hologic,
  committed to investing in a landmark global report that would
  identify where, and why, women struggle with healthcare and
  other basic necessities.1

• The Index tracks women’s health across five dimensions: Preventive
  Care, Emotional Health, Individual Health, Basic Needs and
  Opinions of Health and Safety.1

• The Year 5 Index report is based on surveys conducted in 2024 – by
  telephone and in person – with nearly 145,000 women and men

• aged 15 and older in 144 countries and territories.1

• The Index provides decision-makers, researchers and advocates
  with timely, comprehensive data about women’s health and
  wellbeing worldwide.1

• Global health programs continue to face mounting challenges from substantial cuts in international assistance from major donor countries and other sources.2

• The Year 5 results reveal a complex and uneven landscape.1 While measurable gains have been made since the Index’s inception, particularly in preventive care, challenges persist in access to basic needs and healthcare quality.1

 

Australia’s performance

• Australia scored 59 out of 100 on The Index in Year 53 – above the global average of 54, and  ranking behind several Asia-Pacific countries including Japan (66), Singapore (65) and South Korea (63). Australia also ranked behind the United States (64), but ahead of other high-income countries including the United Kingdom (58) and Canada (53).3

• Australia’s Hologic Global Women’s Health Index score has declined over the past five years, falling to 59 – its lowest recorded level and unchanged from the previous year. While Australia remains above the Year 5 global average of 54, this sustained decline signals a deterioration in women’s health outcomes and experiences.3

• Australia’s performance across the Index dimensions is mixed. Compared to the previous year, Preventive Care, Individual Health, and Opinions of Health and Safety have improved, while Emotional Health and Basic Needs have declined. Basic Needs has shown a consistent decline over the past five years, and no dimension has returned to, or exceeded its Year 1 level.3

• Preventive care remains an area of focus, with testing rates higher than 12 months ago. Australian women are more likely to access testing for established chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes, than for cancer or sexual health. In the past 12 months, Australian women reported:3

  • Blood pressure testing: 56 per cent;

  • Diabetes testing: 36 per cent;

  • Cancer testing: 23 per cent; and

  • Sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing: 10 per cent.

• The comparatively low uptake of cancer and STI screening may represent missed opportunities for early detection and intervention.3

• Women's emotional health is deteriorating. Anger, sadness, worry and stress have all worsened over the past three years. In Year five, Australian women reported experiencing the following for much of the previous day:

  • stress 52 per cent;

  • worry 41 per cent;

  • sadness 27 per cent; and

  • anger 14 per cent.3

• Physical pain is a substantial burden. More than one-in-three Australian women spent a lot of the previous day in physical pain, while 28 per cent report health problems.3 These trends suggest a growing burden of health issues that may affect daily activities, quality of life and overall wellbeing.

• Almost three-in-10 Australian women are dissatisfied with the healthcare available in their area.3

• Rising levels of stress, worry and sadness suggest that emotional wellbeing has become an increasingly important challenge for Australian women. The findings reinforce the need for greater support for mental health and resilience across all stages of life.3

• More than one-in-five Australian women reported struggling  to afford food in the past year, and one-in-nine  reported difficulty affording shelter – both worsening compared to three years ago.3

• Growing difficulty affording essential needs, such as food and housing, may have far-reaching consequences for women’s health, wellbeing and access to care. The findings underscore how economic security is increasingly shaping health outcomes in Australia.

• Australia's Basic Needs score has fallen from 92 in Year 1 to 84 in Year 5 – one of the steepest declines across all dimensions.3

• Almost five-in-10 Australian women do not feel safe walking alone at night.3

 

Global results

• In Year 5, the world scored 54 out of 100 on the Index – the same score as Year one. Despite demonstrable gains in some areas, global women’s health has not improved overall.1

• More than 1.5 billion women did not receive a single screening health test in the past year, despite preventive care being one of the most effective tools for early detection.1

• Not one country or territory scored higher than 69 out of 100 in Year 5.1 Even the best-performing nations have substantial work to do.

• The results across all five Index dimensions account for approximately 70 per cent of the variance in women’s average life expectancy at birth.1

• In Year 5, more women than at any point in the Index’s history were tested for high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer.1

  • Blood pressure testing – a critical screen for high blood pressure, a leading driver of heart disease – reached a five-year high of 39 per cent;

  • Diabetes testing rose four percentage points to a record 24 per cent;

  • Cancer testing rebounded from its previous low, climbing three percentage points to 13 per cent; and

  • STI testing rates remained stagnant at 10 per cent, unchanged since the Index began.

• Progress has not been equal. Most progress was seen among older women and those in upper-middle-income and high-income economies. In low-income economies, testing rates remained flat.1

• Women’s emotional health remains under significant strain.1

  • In Year 5, 42 per cent of women reported feeling worried, and 29 per cent reported sadness the previous day.1

• An estimated one billion women struggle to afford basic necessities.1 Nearly four-in-10 women said there were times in the past year when they could not afford food, while almost one-in-three struggled to afford housing.1

• Women’s physical health continues to decline. One-in-three women worldwide lived with daily physical pain in Year 5. Nearly one-in-four reported health problems serious enough to rob them of normal daily life – a burden hitting women in lower-income countries hardest, and those aged 60+.1

• Across five dimensions, global women's health tells an uneven story: Preventive Care languishes at just 22 out of 100 – a stark gap from the remaining four dimensions, which scored between 66 and 71 (Emotional Health 67, Basic Needs 66, Opinions of Health and Safety 69, Individual Health 71).1

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Implications for women’s health

• The Year 5 Hologic Global Women’s Health Index findings leave no room for inaction. Closing persistent gaps in women's health demands investment, education, and culturally responsive strategies that prioritise prevention.1

• Improving the health and well-being of women and girls is a shared responsibility that requires genuine global commitment and collaboration.

• The data is clear. Now global action must follow.1

  • Develop  and implement country-specific women's health strategies that establish a lifelong roadmap for generational health and wellbeing.1

  • Scale up data-driven approaches that improve health outcomes for women across their lifespan, and accelerate research into women’s health conditions that are under-researched, under-funded or poorly understood.1

  • Address the root causes of poor health: gender inequity, poverty, health literacy,
    social stigma and other barriers to care.1

  • Expand access to screening and early detection, particularly for cancers and conditions that disproportionately affect women.1​​​