The City of Ballarat is located in the Central Highlands Region, 110 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, and is surrounded by the municipalities of the Shires of Hepburn, Pyrenees, Golden Plains and Moorabool.  It has an area of 740 square kilometres and an estimated population of 80,045 according to the 2001 Census, and is expected to increase to 98,800 by 2016.  It comprises the city of Ballarat, which is one of Australia’s largest inland cities and the third largest city in Victoria with a population of approximately 65,000 people and the townships of Learmonth (population 300), Buninyong (population 1800) Miners Rest (population 450) and Cardigan Village (population 200).

 
 From ABS Census data (2001) 79,794 persons were counted in the City of Ballarat on August 7^th, 2001.  Of these, 48.0% were males and 52.0% were females.  21.52% were aged 0-14 years, 16.02% aged 15-24 years, 40.61% aged 25-54 years, and 21.85% aged 55 years and over.  In relation to family characteristics, there were 20,453 families counted in the City of Ballarat, 45.3% were couple families with children, 34.7% were couple families without children, 18.1% were one parent families, and 1.8% were other families. Of the occupied private dwellings, 66.6% were family households, 26.7% were lone person households and 4.4% were group households.  36,794 people in the City of Ballarat were in the labour force.  Of these, 56.0% were employed full time, 32.0% were employed part-time, 2.5% were employed but did not state their hours worked and 9.5% were unemployed. 

Like the rest of Victoria, the City of Ballarat’s population is aging with the number of people over the age of 65 10,799 in the City of Ballarat (A.B.S. Census data, 2001) projected to grow by 60% over the next 20 years.  This will have significant implications for services, jobs, types of residential accommodation and Ballarat’s social mix.

The highest rates of Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY) per 1000 population in 2001 for males in the City of Ballarat, as measured by the Victorian Burden of Disease Estimates (2001), were for malignant cancers (32.6), cardiovascular diseases (29.4), mental disorders (18.1), ischaemic heart disease (17.6) and neurological and sense disorders (15.2). The highest DALY rates for females in the City of Ballarat were for malignant cancers (27.5), cardiovascular diseases (24.7), mental disorders (21.5), neurological and sense disorders (19.2), and ischaemic heart disease (11.7). 

The highest rates of the Years of Life Lost prematurely (YLL) per 1000 population in 2001 for males in the City of Ballarat, as measured by the Victorian Burden of Disease Estimates (2001), were for malignant cancers (26.0), cardiovascular disease (24.1), ischaemic heart disease (15.9), and lung cancer (6.1).  The highest YLL rates for females in the City Of Ballarat were for malignant cancers (22.1), cardiovascular diseases (19.2), ischaemic heart disease (10.3), and stroke (5.3).

 
Oral health, dental caries, hearing loss, asthma and diabetes mellitus comprise the five highest prevalent rates of disease for residents in the City of Ballarat according to the Victorian Burden of Disease estimates (2001).