2019 Active Living Census

Active Living Census logo

The 2019 Healthy Heart of Victoria Active Living Census was conducted during May and June 2019 to help with planning for health and recreation services and allow a better understanding of people’s activity levels and preferences.

First conducted within the City of Greater Bendigo in 2014, where the results helped improve local recreational facilities designed to get residents more active and obtain funding for major health and wellbeing projects within Greater Bendigo, the ALC was carried out across households within the Loddon Campaspe region in 2019.

The Census was available online and in hard copy to people across the region.  It was completed by over 24,500 people throughout region, including by almost 13,000 people across the City of Greater Bendigo.

The findings provide evidence at a local level, and enable reliable comparisons with other data, as well as across townships and demographic groups such as age and gender.

Further, the findings provide valuable information on what would help people meet national guidelines for healthy eating and active living, and help support efforts to reduce rates of obesity, chronic disease and high-risk health behaviours by encouraging more people to be more active, more often.

Key findings from 2019 Active Living Census for Greater Bendigo include:

  • Walking is the most popular physical activity for adults
  • 2 in every 3 adults in Greater Bendigo are overweight or obese
  • 1 in 10 households in Greater Bendigo do not have enough to eat. In some areas this increases to 1 in 5 households
  • 1 in 8 adults meet the daily vegetable consumption guidelines
  • Greater Bendigo residents consume more sugary drinks than residents in the Loddon Campaspe Region and Victoria
  • 5.5% of Greater Bendigo residents gamble weekly
  • Females consume nearly three times more vegetables than males
  • Residents in Maiden Gully, Strathfieldsaye and the Rural East reported higher levels of life satisfaction than Greater Bendigo residents  

There are two reports available for the Active Living Census for the City of Greater Bendigo – a comprehensive Topline Report featuring detailed tables of data on every survey question, and a Selected Findings report highlighting the main findings.

The Selected Findings report is broken down by each township as well as by the top activities with the highest rate of yearly participation, and into specific demographic and population groups.

There is also a comprehensive summary at the beginning of each of these reports, which provides an overview of the findings for Greater Bendigo, and compares the results to the Loddon Campaspe region as well as to Victorian statistics.

Thank you to all who completed the 2019 Active Living Census.  The findings for Greater Bendigo can be viewed by downloading the following documents: