The 2025 Active Living Census results have revealed that over half of Mount Alexander Shire residents engage in risky drinking, and are overweight or obese.
The Healthy Loddon Campaspe initiative helps to understand health and wellbeing across six local government areas – City of Greater Bendigo, Mount Alexander, Campaspe, Central Goldfields, Loddon, and Macedon Ranges shires.
More than 8,000 residents took part in the census between May 26 and July 6, 2025, which collected data on matters such as physical activity, access to nutritious food, public open space use and risky behaviours.
The census found that adults in the Loddon Campaspe region have lower rates of smoking, vaping, gambling and daily sugar-sweetened drink consumption, compared with Victorian and national benchmarks.
In the Mount Alexander Shire, roughly a quarter of the population has fair or poor general health, low to moderate life satisfaction and poor mental wellbeing.
55.5 per cent of residents are overweight or obese, with 88.8 per cent not eating the required amount of vegetables and 43.7 per cent not eating enough fruit.
While screen usage is high (54.2 per cent of residents do not meet screen time recommendations), most residents in the shire do not drink sugary drinks, and very few residents smoke or vape.
The results of the census, conducted by the City of Greater Bendigo, will be used to help guide local planning, health promotion and projects and services that respond to community needs.
The regional findings reports are available at www.healthyloddoncampaspe.au/alc