Australia currently has the highest recorded cancer rate in the world when looking at age‑standardized incidence (new cases per year per 100,000 people).

Which country tops the list?

  • Recent global rankings show Australia at the top, with an age‑standardized cancer incidence rate of roughly 450–465 cases per 100,000 people.
  • New Zealand usually appears in the top few countries as well, with similarly high rates, especially for melanoma and other cancers linked to UV exposure.

Why are the rates so high?

  • High UV radiation and a largely fair‑skinned population contribute to very high melanoma and other skin cancer rates in Australia and New Zealand.
  • These countries also have strong screening programs and good cancer registries, which means more cancers are detected and recorded rather than missed, pushing reported rates higher.

Other important context

  • “Highest cancer rate” normally refers to age‑standardized incidence , which adjusts for age structure so that older populations do not automatically look worse just because they have more elderly people.
  • Many low‑income countries appear to have low cancer rates, but experts note that under‑diagnosis, limited registries, and deaths recorded without a clear cause can make the real burden look smaller than it is.

How this is changing over time

  • Global cancer cases are rising, with projections of about 35 million new cases by 2050, up roughly 77% from 2022, driven by aging populations, population growth, and lifestyle factors such as smoking, obesity, and pollution.
  • Rankings by country can shift slightly year to year as new data come in, but Australia has consistently remained at or near the top of the list in recent releases.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.