Cancer data in Australia

This report examines all cancer cases in Australia between 2006 and 2020 by the country of birth (COB) and region of birth (ROB) of the people diagnosed. The data clearly suggests incidence rates differ by the country and region of birth and that the cancer risks for different populations may be quite different. 

Just as international cancer incidence rates vary considerably across the countries and regions of the world, cancer incidence rates in Australia vary by country and region of birth.

There are many instances where certain countries are noted to have relatively low/high incidence for particular cancers or for cancer in general, and for the respective populations in Australia to similarly have comparatively low/high incidence for those cancers or for cancer in general. 

People born in Australia had amongst the highest overall rates of cancer while people born in Asian regions generally had the lowest incidence rates of cancer. Much of the difference was due to the Australia-born comparatively high incidence cancers melanoma of the skin, colorectal, breast and prostate cancers but differences were also observed beyond these cancers.

Around 30% of the Australian population were born overseas (ABS 2024). The overseas-born population had lower cancer incidence (312 cases per 100,000 people) than people who were born in Australia (401 cases per 100,000 people). The difference resulted in the overall Australian cancer incidence rate (371 cases per 100,000 people) being lower than the Australia-born population (rates are standardised to the World Health Organisation World population).

There were some cancers where incidence rates for people born in Australia were lower than for people born overseas. These cancers include liver cancer, thyroid cancer and stomach cancer. The following contributed to higher rates for the overseas-born populations for these cancers:

• most regions of birth had higher thyroid cancer incidence rates than the rates for those born in Australia
• males from Mainland South-East Asia, North Africa, Central and West Africa and Chinese Asia regions of birth had liver cancer incidence rates that were more than double the Australia-born rate
• people from Japan and the Koreas, Polynesia, South Eastern Europe and Chinese Asia regions of birth had comparatively high rates of stomach cancer.

There were instances where cancer incidence trends differed by sex. For example, the highest male lung cancer incidence rates occurred for South Eastern Europe, Middle East and Southern Europe regions of birth (ROBs). The respective female populations from these ROBs had lung cancer incidence rates well below the highest rates reported for females.

The report examines cancer incidence by COB and ROB. It was not unusual for the COBs within a ROB to have some general levels of commonality. To help illustrate this, for 2006–2020, cancer incidence rates ranged considerably by COB (between 161 and 413 cases per 100,000 people). The Mainland South-East Asia ROB had comparatively low cancer incidence (221 cases per 100,000 people). The four reportable countries of birth within this ROB also had low and relatively similar cancer incidence (ranging between 202 and 232 cases per 100,000 people).

There can however be quite different rates within a ROB. For instance, differences commonly occurred within the Polynesia ROB. Here, the Fiji-born and Samoa-born cancer incidence rates for different cancers often contrasted. This stems from the Samoa-born population having amongst the highest of cancer incidence rates for 2006–2020 (413 cases per 100,000 people) while the Fiji-born had relatively low incidence (256 cases per 100,000 people).