Australia, New Zealand register highest breast cancer rates globally

Australia and New Zealand have the highest rates of breast cancer incidence in the world. In a new study, researchers from Australia and Canada analysed the breast cancer incidence and mortality rates in 185 countries. The study found that one in 20 women globally will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime and that one in 70 will die from the disease. 

However, the study found that breast cancer risk is not evenly distributed throughout the world. It found that the age-standardised incidence rate (ASIR) of breast cancer in Australia and New Zealand in 2022 was 100.3 cases per 1 lakh people. The ASIR for breast cancer was the highest in Melanesia at 26.8 deaths per 1 lakh people followed by Polynesia and western Africa



and the lowest in eastern Asia at 6.5 deaths per 1 lakh people. Out of all the countries analysed, France had the highest risk of lifetime breast cancer diagnosis and Fiji had the highest lifetime risk of dying.

In 2021, the World Health Organisation (WHO) launched the Global Breast Cancer Initiative (GBCI), setting a goal for countries to reduce breast cancer mortality by 2.5 per cent annually. The new research found that only seven countries — Malta, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Slovenia are meeting the GBCI goal.

The research warned that breast cancer cases will increase by 38 per cent and deaths by 68 per cent by 2050.