What is cervical cancer statistics?

Cervical cancer is a type of cancer that starts in the cells of the cervix. Most cervical cancers are caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) infecting and turning healthy cells into abnormal pre-cancerous cells called, High-grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesion (HSIL) and Adenocarcinoma In Situ (AIS). If detected early these pre-cancerous cells can be effectively treated and are unlikely to develop into invasive tumours. The HPV vaccine and pap smears are helping to reduce cervical cancers.

You can access further information about cervical cancer statistics, including risk factors, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment from Cancer Council Victoria. You can also call our trusted cancer nurses on 13 11 20 for support and to learn about our range of services for people affected by cancer.

The Victorian Cancer Registry also operates an interactive web portal, Data Explorer, which provides more trends and statistics than published here.

How common is cervical cancer statistics?

In 2024, 236 Victorian females were diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer statistics. Currently, invasive cervical cancer statistics is diagnosed at a rate of 6.5 per 100,000 females. The median age at diagnosis of invasive cervical cancer statistics is 48 (Figure 1 & 2). Accounting for 0.58% of all cancers diagnosed and 0.44% of all cancer-related deaths in 2024, invasive cervical cancer statistics was the 16th most commonly diagnosed cancer and the 22nd most common cause of cancer-related deaths in Victorian females.

Trends in cervical cancer statistics over time

For females between to the age standardised incidence rate of HSIL/AIS by an average of % per year.

For females between 2000 to 2024 the age standardised incidence rate of cervical cancer statistics increased by an average of 0.2% per year. However this result wasn’t statistically significant, meaning the change cannot be confidently considered real and may be due to random fluctuations.

Cervical Cancer Statistics morphology

Figure 4 provides a summary of the different types of cells (morphology) which have caused invasive cervical cancer statistics among females. Most invasive cervical cancer statistics, 61%, presents as squamous cell carcinoma tumours.

Geographical variance in cervical cancer statistics by local government area

Figure 5 demonstrates variation in the estimated risk of being diagnosed with cervical cancer statistics, by local government area, relative to the Victorian average. Red shading indicates areas with higher risk and blue shading indicates areas with lower risk relative to Victoria.

Cervical Cancer Statistics in people born overseas

Figure 6 shows the standardised incidence ratios (SIRs) of invasive cervical cancer statistics in Australian-born Victorian females compared to other major migrant groups, over the five-year period 2019 to 2023. The highest standardised incidence ratio (SIR) of 1.3 was observed in those born in the North-East Asia region and lowest SIR of 0.31 was observed in people born in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Cervical Cancer Statistics five-year relative survival

Figure 7 shows the change in 5-year survival for cervical cancer statistics, and the 5-year survival trend for all cancers over the same time period. It demonstrates that five-year relative survival has increased for invasive cervical cancer statistics between 1985-1989 and 2020-2024 from 68% to 79%.