Overview

Cancer is a major cause of illness in Australia and has a substantial social and economic impact on individuals, families and the community. Findings from the recent Australian Burden of Disease Study showed that cancer as a disease group was the leading cause of burden in Australia in 2011, accounting for 19% of the total disease burden.

More reports and statistics on cancer can be found under Cancer screening.

Latest findings

At the end of 2015, 431,704 people were alive who had been diagnosed with cancer in the previous 5 years In 2019, lung cancer is estimated to be responsible for more deaths than any other cancer 141,538 new cancer cases are estimated to be diagnosed in 2018 Breast cancer is estimated to be the most commonly diagnosed cancer in 2019, followed by prostate cancer 48,840 deaths from cancer are estimated for 2018 5-year relative survival was 69% for all cancers combined in 2011–2015 In 2011, over 70% of breast cancer cases and over 80% of prostate cancer cases were diagnosed at Stage I or II In 2019, an estimated 396 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed each day in Australia, on average In 2011, around 4 in 5 people diagnosed with breast or prostate cancers were diagnosed before Stage III In 2019, breast cancer is estimated to be the most commonly diagnosed cancer, followed by prostate cancer In 2011, 5-year relative survival of people diagnosed with Stage I lung cancer was 68%; the rate was 3% for Stage IV In 2019, an estimated 136 people will die from cancer each day in Australia, on average

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Highlights

144,700new cancer cases are estimated to be diagnosed in 2019—1 new diagnosis every 4 minutes
1 in 4men and 1 in 6 women will die from cancer by the age of 85
49,900people are estimated to die from cancer in 2019—137 deaths every day
Survival rateswere better for cancers diagnosed at an earlier stage
3 in every 10deaths in Australia in 2016 were due to cancer
1 in 2people will be diagnosed by the age of 85
1 in 91 in 9 hospitalisations in 2016–17 were related to cancer
Rare and less commoncancers accounted for 1 in 3 new cancer cases diagnosed and 1 in 2 cancer deaths in 2015.