Approximately 430,000 Australians are diagnosed with a non-melanoma skin cancer every year

Two in three Australians will develop skin cancer in their lifetime

More than 10000 Australians are diagnosed with a melanoma and more than 1600 lose their live

The melanoma incidence rates in Australia and New Zealand are between two and five times higher than those found in Canada, the UK and the US

Melanoma is the fourth most common cancer in Australia (behind prostate, colorectal and breast cancers)

Melanoma is the most common cancer in people aged 12-44 year

In SA, 70 per cent of melanomas are diagnosed in people over 50 years

Australians have a 1 in 17 risk of getting a melanoma by age 85

Relative five-year survival rates for all melanoma are 90 per cent for Australian males and 95 per cent for Australian woman

If it spreads within the region of the primary melanoma the five-year survival is 65 per cent, dropping to 15 per cent if the disease is widespread. 

In 2006, there were 627 melanoma diagnosis in South Australia and 76 death

More than 75 per cent of melanomas diagnosed in South Australia are in people aged over 50 with deaths being higher in men than women. 

About 25000 South Australians are diagnosed with non-melanoma skin cancer each year

About 180,000 South Australians report burning each weekend during January and February.

80,000 adolescents report burning each summer

 

Melanoma incidence rates have increased by 10 per cent in males and decreased by 10 per cent in females in the period 1995-2005/

Melanoma mortality rates have been steady in both sexes during that period.

Incidence and mortality rates in South Australia compared with the rest of the world, and melanoma is the fourth most commonly diagnosed cancer in males and females (in SA 2006).