Australia has an ADHD consistency problem. And that matters far more than people think.
Because right now, ADHD is not being diagnosed consistently across Australia.
The ABC reports that 2.36% of adults aged 20 to 65 filled at least one ADHD medication script in the 2025 financial year, which sits close to expected adult prevalence overall. But that national number hides something much messier: huge regional variation, with some areas well above expected rates and others so low they have been described as “ADHD deserts.”
That is not a small technical issue.
That means the same adult could be diagnosed in one part of Australia, receive no diagnosis in another, and be given a completely different explanation somewhere else. That is a hypothetical example, but it captures the real point: your odds of being recognised as ADHD may depend too much on your postcode, cost, service access, and how the local assessment culture operates. The ABC points to all of those as likely drivers of the variation.
That is not equity.
It is postcode diagnosis.
And this is where the issue becomes much bigger than ADHD.
In an ageing population, Australia cannot afford diagnostic systems that leave functional barriers unidentified for years.
Adults do not simply “grow out of” ADHD.
What often happens instead is that people hit midlife carrying the accumulated cost of not being understood properly: burnout, unstable work histories, financial mess, relationship strain, chronic stress, low self-worth, and mental health presentations that may have been treated without the underlying neurodevelopmental issue being identified. That compounding effect is an inference, but it is a reasonable one given the lifelong nature of ADHD and the article’s evidence of missed diagnosis and unequal access.
And in an ageing society, that matters.
It affects workforce participation.
It affects family stability.
It affects caring capacity.
It affects how long people can stay well, independent, and economically engaged.
So when diagnosis is inconsistent, the cost is not just personal.
It becomes social.
It becomes economic.
It becomes a workforce issue.
It becomes a public health issue.
The ABC report makes that inconsistency difficult to ignore.
Western Australia contains 13 of the country’s top 20 prescription hotspots. Meanwhile Fairfield in south-west Sydney has one of the lowest prescription filling rates in Australia, at 0.3%, compared with expected prevalence of 2.5% to 3%. The article says that suggests up to 90% of adults with ADHD there may be undiagnosed and untreated.
That should set off alarms.
Because if one area looks saturated and another looks starved, the story is not simply “ADHD is rising.”
The real story is that:
Access is uneven.
Recognition is uneven.
Diagnosis is uneven.
If the same set of symptoms can be interpreted very differently depending on where a person presents. The answer is not sloppy diagnosis.
The ABC article also reports concern from experts that some assessments may be too shallow, too quick, and too reliant on questionnaires, with inadequate consideration of differential diagnoses.
One expert quoted said the data suggests missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis may be happening at the same time.
That is the real warning.
People deserve better than two broken options:
go unseen for years, or
get rushed through a system that lacks depth.
This is why the conversation needs to mature.
Not every rise in diagnosis is proof of overreach.
Not every low-diagnosis region is proof of lower need.
Sometimes it is simply proof that the system is not functioning consistently enough to be trusted.
Australia needs adult ADHD assessment to be accessible, affordable, rigorous, and geographically consistent.
Right now, the ABC reports that an initial psychiatrist consultation can cost just under $1,000, with total assessment and treatment costs quickly running into the thousands.
That alone makes consistent access impossible for many people.
And in an ageing population, this becomes even more urgent.
Because the longer functional barriers go unidentified, the more expensive they become.
In lost productivity.
In family strain.
In poor mental health.
In care burden.
In preventable decline.
That is why this is not just a neurodiversity story.
It is a systems story.
A fairness story.
An ageing-population story.
A workforce story.
The Bottom Line
If where you live changes your odds of being properly diagnosed, that is not a health system doing its job.
That is a postcode lottery dressed up as healthcare.
And Australia should be far less comfortable with that than it currently is.
🔊 LISTEN NOW: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/am/large-discrepancies-in-adhd-diagnoses/106582474