Cancer mortality

Published

04 Jul, 2022

All Australian states and territories have legislation mandating the notification of cancer diagnoses, and national cancer mortality data are available for the years 1968 to 2019.¹ Projected estimates of annual cancer deaths are also available for the years 2020 and 2021.^2,3

Data

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Cancer type

Notes

Data sourced from Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2021. Australian Cancer Incidence and Mortality (ACIM) books. Canberra: AIHW. [Accessed February 2022]. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/cancer/cancer-data-in-australia/data

Annual mortality, by sex, 1968 to 2019
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Notes

Data sourced from Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2021. Australian Cancer Incidence and Mortality (ACIM) books. Canberra: AIHW. [Accessed February 2022]. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/cancer/cancer-data-in-australia/data

Age-standardised mortality rate, by sex, 1968 to 2019
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Notes

Data sourced from Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2021. Australian Cancer Incidence and Mortality (ACIM) books. Canberra: AIHW. [Accessed February 2022]. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/cancer/cancer-data-in-australia/data

Age-specific mortality rate, by sex, 2019
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Cancer type
Sex

Notes

Data sourced from Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2021. Australian Cancer Incidence and Mortality (ACIM) books. Canberra: AIHW. [Accessed February 2022]. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/cancer/cancer-data-in-australia/data

Age-specific mortality, by age group and sex, 1968 to 2019
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Notes

• Data sourced from AIHW
• Data shown for 'Indigenous', 'Non-Indigenous', 'Not stated' and 'Total' are for NSW, Qld, WA, SA and NT only.
• 'Total' age group includes counts of deaths with unknown age. However, deaths with unknown age were excluded from calculations of rates.
• Rates are calculated using the sum of estimated resident populations at 30 June for 2015–2019. The rates given for age groups are age-specific rates per 100,000. The rates given for 'Total' are age-standardised rates per 100,000, standardised against the 2001 Australian Standard Population.
• Rates are not published where there were fewer than 5 people.

Age-standardised mortality, by Indigenous status, 2015-2019
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• Remoteness was classified according to the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Remoteness Areas.
• The rates shown are age-standardised rates, standardised against the 2001 Australian Standard Population.

Age-standardised mortality, by sex and remoteness, 2015–2019
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Notes

• SES area is classified according to the SEIFA quintile. Disaggregation by SEIFA quintile is based on Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2).
• The rates shown are age-standardised rates, standardised against the 2001 Australian Standard Population.

Age-standardised mortality, by sex and SES area, 2015–2019
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Notes

• Data sourced from International Agency for Research on Cancer GLOBOCAN 2019 database.
• Rates are age-standardised to the WHO world standard population.

Age standardised mortality estimates by country and cancer type

About this measure

Cancer mortality data, as presented, refer to the number of deaths in a calendar year for which the underlying cause is cancer. This can be expressed as absolute numbers of deaths or as rates per 100,000 people. Mortality rates are often age-standardised to enable comparisons across different populations with different age profiles, noting that the likelihood of death from cancer generally increases with age.¹ Age-specific rates are used to compare cancer mortality between different age groups.

Age-standardised and age-specific data are released each year by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) for individual cancer types and cancer groupings. These tumour types and groupings are classified by ICD-10 coding.¹

International cancer mortality data are available through the Global Cancer Observatory (GCO) project; these data are age-standardised to the average age structure of the world population in 2020.⁴ International comparisons are made for this NCCI indicator for 15 selected developed countries (including Australia) across five continents. The selected comparison countries are Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, United States of America and Uruguay.

About the data

Cancer mortality refers to the number of deaths for which the underlying cause was a primary cancer, during a specified time period (usually one year). The major source of cancer mortality data is the National Mortality Database (NMD), which is compiled by the AIHW from data provided by the state and territory Registries of Births, Deaths and Marriages and the National Coronial Information System, and coded by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Unlike the incidence data, the mortality data include basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas of the skin.

All Australian states and territories have legislation that makes cancer a notifiable disease. Various designated bodies, i.e., institutions such as hospitals, pathology laboratories and registries of births, deaths and marriages, are required to report cancer cases and deaths to their jurisdictional cancer registries.

Deaths registered in 2017 and earlier are based on the final version of cause of death data. Deaths registered in 2018 are based on the revised version and deaths registered in 2019 are based on the preliminary version. Revised and preliminary versions are subject to further revision by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

For colorectal cancer, unlike the incidence data, the mortality data include unspecified part of the intestinal tract (ICD-10 code: C26.0) in addition to the colorectal part (ICD-10 codes: C18–C20) to gain the best estimates of deaths.

For all cancers combined, cancers are coded in the ICD-10 as C00–C97, D45, D46, D47.1 and D47.3–D47.5. Incidence excludes those C44 codes that indicate a basal or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin. Unlike incidence data, mortality data include common non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC). These are grouped with rare NMSC in ICD-10 code C44. It is not possible to split C44 into common NMSC and rare NMSC.

Methodology

Remoteness

The 2011, the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) was used to allocate participants to a remoteness area based on their area of usual residence.

For 2015-2019 data the remoteness areas are classified according to the 2016 Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Remoteness Areas. Not all remoteness areas are represented in all jurisdictions. Disaggregation of incidence by remoteness area is based on Statistical Local Area, Level 1 (SA1) of usual residence at time of diagnosis where available, and Statistical Local Area, Level 2 (SA2) where SA1 was not available. Disaggregation of mortality by remoteness area is based on Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) of usual residence at time of death. The accuracy of these classifications decreases over time due to changes in infrastructure within SA2 boundaries since 2016.

Socioeconomic status

The Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) 2011 Index of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage (IRSD) was used to allocate participants to a SES quintile based on their area of usual residence.

Age standardisation

Australian mortality data are age-standardised to the Australian population as at 30 June 2001 and are expressed per 100,000 population.

International mortality data are age-standardised to the World standard population, which generally give appreciably lower rates than standardisation to the Australian population due to differences in age weightings.

International data

The GCO contains cancer incidence and mortality from cancer registries around the world. Various methodologies are applied to the GCO data differing by country and data availability. Mortality rates for Australia (in relation to international data), Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Sweden, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States of America and Uruguay were observed and projected to 2020. Mortality rates for Singapore the most recently observed national mortality rates for the country and then applied to the 2020 population.4 Additional details on methodology and data availability can be found: https://gco.iarc.fr/today/data-sources-methods

Data presented for Korea is inclusive of the Republic of Korea only.

Data sources

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2021. Australian Cancer Incidence and Mortality (ACIM) books 2019. Canberra: AIHW.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2021. GRIM (General Record of Incidence of Mortality) books 2019: All neoplasms. Canberra: AIHW.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2021. Cancer in Australia 2021. Cat. No. CAN 144. Canberra: AIHW.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2021. National Mortality Database. Canberra: AIHW.
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Global Cancer Observatory: Cancer Today. Lyon, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer, World Health Organization. https://gco.iarc.fr/today/home

Data caveat

Reliable national data on cancer mortality for Indigenous Australians are not available nationally. All state and territory cancer registries collect information on Indigenous status; however, in some jurisdictions the consistency of Indigenous status data is regarded as insufficient for inclusion in national mortality analyses. Information on Indigenous status is considered to be sufficiently consistent for inclusion for New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Data for these five jurisdictions therefore were used to examine the mortality from cancer by Indigenous status (i.e., Indigenous and non-Indigenous).⁵

References

Activity in this area

Data

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2018. Australian Cancer Incidence and Mortality (ACIM) books. [Accessed February 2022]; https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/cancer/cancer-data-in-australia/data

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2019. General Record of Incidence of Mortality (GRIM). Accessed February 2022]; https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/grim-books

References

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2021. Australian Cancer Incidence and Mortality (ACIM) books. Canberra: AIHW. [Accessed February 2022]; https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/cancer/cancer-data-in-australia/data
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2021. Cancer in Australia 2021. Cancer series no.133. Cat. no. CAN 144. Canberra: AIHW.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2021. Cancer data in Australia. Cat. no. CAN 122. Canberra: AIHW. [Accessed January 2021] https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/cancer/cancer-data-in-australia
Ferlay J, Ervik M, Lam F, Colombet M, Mery L, Piñeros M, Znaor A, Soerjomataram I, Bray F (2018). Global Cancer Observatory: Cancer Today. Lyon, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer. [Accessed February 2022]; https://gco.iarc.fr/today
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2018. Cancer in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia. Cat. no. CAN 109. Canberra: AIHW. [Accessed October 2019]; https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/cancer/cancer-in-indigenous-australians
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, National Mortality Database. [Accessed February 2022]; https://www.aihw.gov.au/about-our-data/our-data-collections/national-mortality-database

Summary

Cancer mortality in Australia is increasing overallFrom 1968 to 2019, cancer mortality in Australia increased from 17,032 deaths to 49,035 deaths per year.

Cancer mortality rates are decreasing for most cancer typesFrom 1968 to 2019, age-standardised mortality rates decreased for all cancers combined, and for most cancer types, with exceptions including brain, liver and rectal cancer, and lung cancer in females.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have higher mortality rates for some cancers Indigenous Australians experienced higher age-standardised mortality rates than non-Indigenous persons for cancers of the bladder, breast in females, cervix, head and neck, liver, lung, oesophagus, pancreas, uterus, and unknown primary site.

Disparities in cancer mortality in remote areasIn 2015–2019, the age-standardised mortality rate for all cancers combined was highest in Remote and Very Remote areas combined and lowest in Major Cities, (180.6 compared with 150.7 deaths per 100,000 persons). 

Disparities in cancer mortality in lower SES areasIn 2015–2019, the age-standardised mortality rate for all cancers combined was highest in the lowest SES areas (SES1 quintile, 184.9 deaths per 100,000 persons compared with the highest SES area (SES 5 quintile, 130.2 deaths per 100,000 persons).

Australia's cancer mortality rate is lower than the estimated global average The projected age-standardised cancer mortality rate in Australia was about 18% lower than the estimated global rate for 2020.

Revision Type

Minor

Version Number

3.0

National Cancer Control Indicators

Cancer mortality

Data

Summary

Cancer mortality in Australia is increasing overall

Cancer mortality rates are decreasing for most cancer types

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have higher mortality rates for some cancers

Disparities in cancer mortality in remote areas

Disparities in cancer mortality in lower SES areas

Australia's cancer mortality rate is lower than the estimated global average

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Data

Summary

Cancer mortality in Australia is increasing overall

Cancer mortality rates are decreasing for most cancer types

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have higher mortality rates for some cancers

Disparities in cancer mortality in remote areas

Disparities in cancer mortality in lower SES areas

Australia's cancer mortality rate is lower than the estimated global average

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NCCI – About the Data