Imagine if a condition affecting millions of Australians was simply erased from national data. Imagine if it was ignored by health authorities, dismissed as insignificant, and left out of critical funding decisions. That’s exactly what’s happening with migraine – and it’s time to fight back.
Despite being one of the most common chronic conditions, migraine has once again been excluded from the Census question on long term health conditions. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) argues that people don’t distinguish between "migraine" and "headache" well enough for them to collect accurate data. Instead of working to clarify, they’ve simply chosen to leave us out – reinforcing harmful stigma and ensuring that migraine remains the most underfunded, underdiagnosed, and undertreated condition in Australia.
In its Outcomes of the 2026 Census Topic Review, published this week, the ABS confirmed that migraine will not be included in the Census question on long-term health conditions. Their justification? That the term "migraine" lacks consistency in understanding and responses. They don’t believe it will produce good data.
They seem to miss the fact that excluding migraine makes all their other numbers on chronic illness wrong.
Even when migraine is included in the questions by the ABS, like it is in the National Health Survey question on long term health conditions, they deliberately exclude it from the reports.
So while 1.7m Australians told the ABS in the last National Health Survey they had chronic migraine - which is more than reported they had diabetes, heart disease, or cancer - all of the reports and press releases about Australia's most prevalent long term conditions deliberately excluded migraine. This has flow on effects with other studies and reports, such as a recent report commissioned by the drug company AbbVie into chronic illness in the workplace, which also just left migraine out completely.
This exclusion has real-world consequences. Without proper data, migraine doesn’t get the attention, funding, or support it desperately needs. Without including migraine, all the other health data is bad too.
We need change. We need recognition. And we need your help.
Migraine Australia is calling on the government to direct the ABS to fix this systemic discrimination. You can help by writing to your MP and demanding that migraine be included in the Census. Let them know that it’s not okay for us to be erased.
Join our fight. Together, we can ensure that people living with migraine are counted, respected, and supported.