The number of Australians who are obese has reached "staggering" numbers according to a key government report.

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Reform Council has released its fourth report on the National Healthcare Agreement.

It shows that in 2011-12, 63 per cent of Australians were either overweight or obese - that has increased 2 per cent in the past four years - with 35 per cent of people overweight and 28 per cent obese.

The report says seven in every 10 men and more than half of all women are above their healthy body weight.

It has warned governments that more needs to be done to tackle obesity and recommends that federal, state and territory leaders note "the lack of progress" toward reaching a 5 per cent boost to the number of Australians at a healthy body weight by 2018.

Council chairman John Brumby will today release the report at the Australian Medical Association (AMA) conference.

"It's concerning to see that so many Australians are overweight or obese," he said in a statement.

"But the fact that the situation is getting worse suggests that it needs urgent attention from our governments to prevent flow-on effects across the [health] system."

COAG Reform Council chart showing spread of obesity over time and by state. ( COAG Reform Council/ABS )

The report also shows "little improvement" in hospital wait times for elective surgery and has shown a 12 per cent increase in the number of people having to wait a full 24 hours or longer for an urgent appointment with a GP.

The Reform Council's report has good news on the smoking front, with a fall in the number of adults smoking in 2011-12 to 16.5 per cent, down from 19.1 per cent in 2007-08.

Mr Brumby says in many wealthy parts of the nation's cities smoking rates have fallen to close to one in 10 people.

"Whereas in some of the poorer areas, particularly in rural and remote areas, smoking rates are still around one in three," he said.

Mr Brumby says smoking rates remain stubbornly above the average in the Northern Territory and Tasmania.

The latest assessment does not include the impact of the Federal Government's plain packaging laws.

The council has also released its report into disability support services, finding that the number of people on a disability support pension who were also earning money from work went down between 2009 and 2012 from 9.3 per cent to 8.6 per cent.