CANCER

Cancer is a condition in which the body's cells grow and spread in an uncontrolled manner. A cancerous cell can arise from almost any cell, and therefore cancer can be found almost anywhere in the body.

In 2014-15 there were 370,100 people who reported having cancer, or around 1.6% of the Australian population. Over the past fifteen years, rates have remained relatively stable (1.4% in 2001).

Of people with cancer, nearly one in three people (30.3%) had skin cancer, making this the most commonly reported type of cancer.

Overall, 1.7% of men and 1.5% of women reported having cancer in 2014-15. At older ages, rates have generally been higher for men, with around one in ten men aged 75 years and over (10.9%) reporting having cancer in 2014-15, compared with 4.7% of women of the same age.