A disturbing map has revealed an alarming rise in cancer rates among young Australians, with experts warning the number of diagnoses is only increasing.
Australia has the world’s highest cancer rate among people under 50, with 135 cases per 100,000 people, World Bank data shows.
New Zealand has the second highest rate, with 119 cases per 100,000 residents.
Despite skin cancer remaining the most common form of cancer in Australia, it is not the type that is seeing an increase in detection rates among younger demographics.
The cancers that contribute significantly to the rate increases for people in their thirties are scolorectal (colon) and thyroid cancer.
For Australians in their 40s it was thyroid cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer and kidney cancer.
Cancer is still most common in old age – by 2024, an estimated 88 percent of diagnosed cancers will occur in people aged 50 or older, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
But the number of cancer cases among young people is increasing: by 2024, up to 20,000 people under the age of 50 are expected to be diagnosed with cancer.
Despite skin cancer remaining the most common cancer in Australia, it is not the type that is seeing a rise in detections among younger demographics (map shown)
People between the ages of 30 and 49 are particularly at risk, accounting for 84 percent of cases.
However, there was also good news. Over the past 24 years, the cancer death rate among people in their thirties and forties has steadily declined.
From 2000 to 2024, the number of deaths fell from 60 to 37 per 100,000 people in their forties and from 18 to 12 per 100,000 among people in their thirties.
A Cancer Australia spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that premature outbreaks of the disease are an “emerging problem of global concern”.
“Recent studies have shown increasing rates of certain cancers in adults under the age of 50 in many countries, including Australia,” they said.
The cancers that contribute significantly to the rate increases for people in their thirties are colorectal cancer and thyroid cancer (stock image)
‘The causes of premature cancers are complex and likely include a number of contributing factors, including changes over the past decades in lifestyle, diet, obesity, environmental exposures and other factors.
‘However, more research is needed to better understand the specific driving forces behind this trend.’
The spokesperson said if detected early, more than 90 per cent of bowel cancer cases can be successfully treated and urged Australians to take advantage of the National colon cancer screening program.
People aged 45 to 74 can take a free test at home every two years.
A recent study that attempted to map the increase in bowel cancer rates among young people suggested that this could be due to an increase in the number of ‘accelerated agers’.
These patients have a biological age that is older than their chronological age, which is caused by a combination of lifestyle choices such as diet and alcohol consumption, and environmental factors such as chemical exposure.
Non-melanoma skin cancer remains the most common form of cancer in Australia, with more than a million treatments performed each year.
The next most common cancers are prostate cancer and breast cancer, with approximately 24,000 and 20,000 diagnosed each year, respectively.
The fourth is melanoma, with 17,700 Australians diagnosed each year.