• 28,405 Victorians were diagnosed with cancer 1 and 10,631 died from cancer in 2011.• The most common new cancers were prostate, breast, bowel, and lung cancers and melanoma.• The leading cancers for mortality were lung, bowel, prostate, breast and pancreatic cancers.
NumbersEach year, over 28,000 Victorians develop cancer, other than one of the common skin cancers 1 , and over 10,500 deaths are caused by it. In 2011, 15,695 men and 12,710 women presented with new cancers and 5,921 men and 4,710 women died from cancer.
Age and sexCancer was very age-dependent with less than 1% of tumours occurring before age 15 and 58% in persons over 65 years. More men than women developed cancer: 123 for every 100 females. The male excess was largely due to tobacco-related cancers and a large number of prostate cancers.