This rise in incidence may be due to increased awareness, and subsequent detection, through skin cancer awareness campaigns. The likelihood of surviving cancer can be measured by the difference between the cancer incidence rate and the cancer death rate. The difference varies between cancers. Melanomas, which rarely lead to death, have a high incidence rate and low mortality rate. In contrast, the difference for lung cancer is smaller.
Men are more likely to develop, and die from, cancer than women.
In 1988, the probability of a male being diagnosed with cancer during his lifetime was 1 in 3, compared to 1 in 4 for a female. The probability of dying from cancer was 1 in 6 for males and 1 in 9 for females 3 . However, these probabilities do not take into account other competing causes of death. 2 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare unpublished data .