Cancer in Australia

Prevalence

In 2004-05, about 2 per cent of the population (about 390 000 people) reported that they had a diagnosed neoplasm, about 87 per cent of which were malignant (cancer).

Risk

• At current incidence rates, one in three men and one in four women in Australia will develop cancer by the age of 75.
• By age 85, the risk increases to one in two for men and one in three for women.

Incidence (new cases)

• In 2004 (the latest year for which we have national data), there were more than 98 000 new cases of cancer (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) diagnosed in Australia. An estimated 382 000 non-melanoma skin cancers were treated in Australia in 2003.

The most common cancers in Australia (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) are prostate, colorectal (large bowel), breast, melanoma and lung cancer. These cancers accounted for about 60 per cent of all new cancers in 2004.

Numbers of new cancers diagnosed each year increased by 25 per cent from 1994 to 2004. Given our increasing and ageing population, the number of new cancers diagnosed each year is expected to keep rising. However, when we adjust rates to consider our ageing population, incidence rates are about the same for all cancers combined in 2004 as they were in 1994.

Mortality (deaths from cancer)

• Cancer is the leading cause of premature death in Australia. In 2004 (the latest year for which we have national data), more than 38 000 Australians died from cancer.
• Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death in Australia, followed by colorectal (large bowel) cancer, cancer of unknown primary site, prostate cancer and breast cancer. These five cancers caused more than half of all deaths from cancer in 2004.

Survival

• More than half of all cancers diagnosed in Australia are successfully treated, and survival rates for some common cancers have increased by more than 20 per cent in the past two decades.

In general, Australian survival rates for cancer are high by world standards. Five-year survival rates for the most common cancers affecting men (prostate) and women (breast) are now more than 80 per cent.

However, some sections of the Australian population have poorer survival rates and cancer outcomes, specifically:

• people from an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background;
• people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds;
• people who are socio-economically disadvantaged; and
• people living in rural and remote areas.

Future projections

• The number of new cases of cancer is rising each year, as is the number of people living with cancer in our community.

While the age-standardised incidence rates of most cancers are expected to remain relatively stable in the short term, the number of new cases will continue to rise due to the ageing of the Australian population. The largest projected increases are for the most common cancers, prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women. A continuing increase is also expected in the number of people affected by lung cancer.

Advances in early detection and treatment will continue to result in improved survival rates for people with cancer. There will be more people living with cancer in the future, and living longer.

Sources and more cancer statistics:

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Cancer in Australia: A Snapshot, 2004-05.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and Australasian Association of Cancer Registries. Cancer in Australia: an overview, 2006.

National Cancer Control Initiative. The 2002 national non-melanoma skin cancer survey.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and Australasian Association of Cancer Registries. Cancer survival in Australia, 2001.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2007. ACIM (Australian Cancer Incidence and Mortality) Books. AIHW: Canberra.

Australian Bureau of Statistics. Cancer in Australia: A snapshot.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australasian Association of Cancer Registries and National Cancer Strategies Group: Ian McDermid. Cancer incidence projections, Australia 2002 to 2011.

Begg, S et al. 2007. The burden of disease and injury in Australia, 2003. PHE 82. Canberra: AIHW.