Foot Facts

When was the last time you serviced your feet?

Despite feet being our main mode of transport, significantly more people have taken care of a car by taking it to be serviced (96%), than have taken care of their feet by visiting a podiatrist (25%).

Men are more likely than women to have taken a car to be serviced, while women are more likely than men to have visited a podiatrist.

Very high proportions of people who have a car, regardless of their age, take care of their car by taking it to be serviced.

Relatively low proportions of people take care of their feet by visiting a podiatrist, although people aged 50 years or over are significantly more likely to take care of their feet than people in younger age brackets.

People living in lower income households are more likely to take care of their feet than those living in higher income households, while similar proportions of people in all households look after their cars.

People who do not have a car are more likely to have visited a podiatrist at some point in time, and people with cars are more likely to have never visited a podiatrist.

One in four Australians aged 18 years and over, or 25%, have visited a podiatrist at some point in time, and one in 10 (10%) have visited in the last 12 months.

75% of Australians have never visited a podiatrist.

Older people are more likely to be taking care of their feet than younger people, with 18% of people aged 50 years or over having visited a podiatrist in the last 12 months.  This compares to 8% of people aged 35-49 years, 4% of those aged 25-34 years, and just 3% of people aged 18-24 years.

People living in households with incomes of under $60,000 are significantly more likely to have visited a podiatrist in the last 12 months than those living in households earning $60,000 or more.

People living in households with a total income of less than $30,000 are nearly twice as likely (11.0%) to have visited a podiatrist in the last 12 months than those living in households earning in excess of $60,000 (5.6%).

People who have a car are significantly more likely to have never visited a podiatrist (76%), than those who do not have a car, (67%).