Recruitment
PI 1 – Participation rate
PI 1 Definition
The percentage of people invited to screen through the NBCSP between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2024 who returned a completed screening test within that period or by 30 June 2025.
Rationale: Participation should be monitored to ensure acceptability, equity, and uptake, with the aim that reductions in incidence, morbidity and mortality can be achieved. Without participation, the NBCSP cannot achieve earlier detection.
Data quality: All invitations issued and iFOBT kits returned are recorded in the NCSR.
Guide to interpretation: The number of individuals sent a screening invitation excludes those who deferred or opted out without completing their screening test, and those who skipped an invitation round due to a recent colonoscopy. Invitees without a valid mailing address in the NCSR are also necessarily excluded from invitation. A non-valid address may be a result of the NCSR not recognising a current postal address, or a return to sender flag currently recorded against the invitee and their given address. Table A3.1 (online data table) contains details on the number of invitees in these categories.
Data on participation by Indigenous Australians, by preferred language spoken at home, and by disability status are not currently available due to the lack of complete denominators for these subgroups. See Equity in the NBCSP for estimates of participation for these subgroups.
Participation is measured over 2 years to align with the 2-year recommended screening interval. A consequence of this is that there are ‘rolling’ participation rates, in which there is an overlap of one calendar year between any 2 consecutively reported participation rates.
Those aged 45–49 can now request a screening kit; however, this age group is not reported in this performance indicator.
National participation rate, 2023–2024: 42.0%.
The following apply to the 6,390,435 eligible people invited from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2024:
Australia-wide: A total of 2,681,451 people participated in the NBCSP, giving an overall Australia-wide participation rate of 42.0% (Table A3.2).
Sex: Female invitees had a higher participation rate (44%) than males (40%)
(Table A3.2).
Age: The participation rate increased with each invitation age group, from 34% for people aged 50–54 to 52% for people aged 70–74 (Figure 3.2a).
Invitation round: The participation rate was higher for people who had previously been invited to the program (receiving their second or later screening invitation, 43%) compared with people receiving their first invitation (33%) (Figure 3.2b).
The re‑participation rate was higher for those who had participated in their previous invitation round and were receiving a subsequent invitation (84%) compared with those who had ever previously participated (73%) (Table A3.3).
Figure 3.2a: Participation of people aged 50–74, by sex and age, Australia, 2023–2024
The chart depicts the participation rate for males and females by age group. It shows that the participation rate increased in each age group and was higher for females than males in each age group.
| Age group (years) | Males | Females |
|---|---|---|
| 50–54 | 31.6% | 36.2% |
| 55–59 | 36.2% | 41.5% |
| 60–64 | 40.7% | 45.9% |
| 65–69 | 48% | 52% |
| 70–74 | 51% | 52.8% |
Source: Table A3.2
Figure 3.2b: Participation of people aged 50–74, by invitation round, Australia, 2023–2024
The chart depicts the participation rate by invitation round. The chart shows that the participation rate was higher for people receiving their subsequent screening invitation (33% in the first invitation rounds compared with 43% for subsequent rounds).
| Invitation round | Participation rate |
|---|---|
| First | 33.2% |
| Subsequent | 43.2% |
Subsequent invitation round includes second, third and later invitation rounds.
Source: Table A3.3
Trend: Monitoring reports before 2016 analysed participation differently from the indicator used in this report. This means that trend comparisons with rates published in those earlier reports cannot be made. To allow trends to be compared over time, the new participation indicator specifications have been applied retrospectively to earlier years of program data within this report (Figure 3.3).
Using this indicator across all program data to date, the participation rate fell from 44% in 2007–2008 to 36% in 2012–2013, then gradually rose to 44% in 2019–2020. The rate dropped after 2020 before trending up to 42% in 2022–2023 and 2023–2024 (Figure 3.3).
Figure 3.3: Participation of people aged 50–74, by sex, Australia, 2007–2008 to 2023–2024
This line chart depicts the participation rate for the period 2007–2008 to 2023–2024 for males, females and persons. It shows that the overall participation rate decreased slightly between 2007–2008 and 2012–2013, before increasing between 2013–2014 and 2019–2020. The rate dropped after 2020 before trending up to 42% in 2023–2024.
| Years | Males | Females | Persons |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007–2008 | 40% | 48.2% | 44% |
| 2008–2009 | 39.8% | 47.5% | 43.6% |
| 2009–2010 | 37.9% | 44.2% | 41% |
| 2010–2011 | 35.7% | 41.6% | 38.6% |
| 2011–2012 | 34.1% | 39.9% | 37% |
| 2012–2013 | 33.4% | 38.7% | 36.1% |
| 2013–2014 | 34.7% | 40.1% | 37.4% |
| 2014–2015 | 36.5% | 41.3% | 38.9% |
| 2015–2016 | 39% | 42.9% | 40.9% |
| 2016–2017 | 39.4% | 43.2% | 41.3% |
| 2017–2018 | 40.3% | 44.5% | 42.4% |
| 2018–2019 | 41.3% | 45.6% | 43.5% |
| 2019–2020 | 41.9% | 45.7% | 43.8% |
| 2020–2021 | 38.9% | 42.8% | 40.9% |
| 2021–2022 | 38% | 42.1% | 40% |
| 2022–2023 | 39.6% | 43.8% | 41.7% |
| 2023–2024 | 39.7% | 44.2% | 42% |
- Data presented are for rolling 2-year participation periods.
- Trend data used the performance indicator specifications retrospectively on previous years’ data.
Source: Table A3.5.
State or territory: The participation rate was highest for people living in South Australia and Tasmania (both 47%) and lowest for people living in the Northern Territory (27%) (Figure 3.4).
Figure 3.4: Participation of people aged 50–74, by state or territory, Australia, 2023–2024
This vertical bar chart depicts the participation rate by state or territory. It shows that the participation rate was highest for people living in Tasmania and South Australia (47%) and lowest for people living in the Northern Territory (27%).
| State or territory | Participation rate |
|---|---|
| NSW | 40.1% |
| Vic | 44.3% |
| Qld | 39.3% |
| WA | 43.1% |
| SA | 47.4% |
| Tas | 46.7% |
| ACT | 45.1% |
| NT | 26.9% |
Source: Table A3.4.
Remoteness area: The participation rate was highest for people living in Inner regional areas (44%) and lowest for people living in Very remote areas (27%) (Figure 3.5a).
Socioeconomic area: The participation rate was highest for people living in the highest socioeconomic areas (47%) and lowest for those living in the lowest socioeconomic areas (36%) (Figure 3.5b).
Figure 3.5a: Participation of people aged 50–74, by remoteness area, Australia, 2023–2024
The figure shows that the participation rate was highest for people living in Inner regional areas (44%) and lowest for people living in Very remote areas (27%).
| Remoteness area | Participation rate |
|---|---|
| Major cities | 41.7% |
| Inner regional | 44.2% |
| Outer regional | 40.5% |
| Remote | 34.5% |
| Very remote | 26.5% |
Source: Table A3.4.
Figure 3.5b: Participation of people aged 50–74, by socioeconomic area, Australia, 2023–2024
The figure shows that the participation rate was highest for people living in the highest socioeconomic areas (47%) and lowest for people living in the lowest socioeconomic areas (36%).
| Socioeconomic area | Participation rate |
|---|---|
| 1 (lowest) | 36.3% |
| 2 | 40.6% |
| 3 | 42.4% |
| 4 | 44% |
| 5 (highest) | 46.9% |
Source: Table A3.4.