Melanoma

Statistics on melanoma cancer registrations and deaths in New Zealand.

Melanoma affects many New Zealanders

Melanoma is one of the most common cancers in New Zealand. In 2015, melanoma was the 4th most commonly registered cancer, and the 6th most common cancer death. 

In 2015, there were 2423 melanoma registrations in New Zealand. The melanoma registration rate has stayed higher for males than females since 1996 [1] (Figure 1). 

Figure 1: Melanoma registration rate, by sex, 1996–2015 (age-standardised rate per 100,000)

378 people died from melanoma in 2015

In 2015, 378 people died from melanoma in New Zealand. The mortality rate has stayed consistently higher for males than females (Figure 2). 

Figure 2: Melanoma mortality rate, by sex, 2001–2015 (age-standardised rate per 100,000)

New Zealand has one of the highest rates of melanoma in the world

New Zealand and Australia have the highest rates of melanoma incidence and mortality in the world (Figure 3).

Figure 3:

Source: IARC 2014 [2]

Māori have low rates of melanoma

Māori have much lower rates of melanoma than non-Māori (Figure 4). In 2015, the age-standardised Māori rate for melanoma registrations was 7 per 100,000, compared with almost 40 per 100,000 for non-Māori.

Figure 4: Melanoma registrations, by sex and ethnic group, three-year moving averages for 2001-2015 (age-standardised rates per 100,000)

Information about the data

Melanoma cancer registrations and deaths

Source: Ministry of Health – New Zealand Cancer Registry, New Zealand Mortality Collection.
Definition: Melanoma is defined as melanoma of the skin registrations (ICD-10 C43) in the New Zealand Cancer Registry. Rates are per 100,000 people, and have been age-standardised to the WHO world standard population.  

Global melanoma statistics

Source: Globocan (IARC 2014) [2]

References

1. Ministry of Health. 2016. Cancer: Historical summary 1948–2013. Wellington: Ministry of Health.

2. IARC. 2014. GLOBOCAN 2012: Estimated cancer incidence, mortality and prevalence worldwide in 2012.   Retrieved June 2014, from http://globocan.iarc.fr/Pages/summary_table_site_prev_sel.aspx