What is kidney cancer?

Kidney cancer starts in the cells of the kidney. Approximately 90% of kidney cancers are renal cell carcinoma (RCC), which begins in cells that line tiny tubes in the kidney’s nephrons (filtering unit). Usually only one kidney is affected, but in rare cases both kidneys may develop cancer.

You can access further information about kidney cancer, 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 kidney cancer?

In 2024, 1196 Victorians were diagnosed with kidney cancer. Of these, there were 806 males and 390 females, representing 67% and 33% of the total Victorian kidney cancer diagnoses, respectively. Currently, kidney cancer is diagnosed at a rate of 21 per 100,000 males and 9 per 100,000 females. The median age at diagnosis of kidney cancer is 65 years in males and 67 in females (Figure 1 & 2). Accounting for 3% of all cancers diagnosed and 1.9% of all cancer-related deaths in 2024, kidney cancer was the 7th most commonly diagnosed cancer and the 16th most common cause of cancer-related deaths in Victoria.

Trends in kidney cancer over time

Figure 3a shows for males between 1999 to 2024 the age standardised incidence rate of kidney cancer increased by an average of 1.5% per year.

For females between 1998 to 2024 the age standardised incidence rate of kidney cancer increased by an average of 0.82% per year.

Kidney cancer morphology

Figure 4 provides a summary of the different types of cells (morphology) which have caused kidney cancer among all cases. Most kidney cancer tumours, 62%, present as clear cell adenocarcinoma tumours.

Geographical variance in kidney cancer by local government area

Figure 5 demonstrates variation in the estimated risk of being diagnosed with kidney cancer, 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.

Kidney cancer in people born overseas

Figure 6 shows the standardised incidence ratios (SIRs) of kidney cancer in Australian-born Victorians compared to other major migrant groups, over the five-year period 2019 to 2023. The highest standardised incidence ratio (SIR) for kidney cancer was 1.1 for males born in the South and Central America region and the lowest SIR of 0.56 was observed in males born in the Africa region. The highest standardised incidence ratio (SIR) for kidney cancer was 1.6 for females born in the South and Central America region and lowest SIR of 0.49 was observed in females born in the South-East Asia region.

Kidney cancer five-year relative survival

Figure 7 shows the change in 5-year survival for kidney cancer, and the 5-year survival trend for all cancers over the same time period. It demonstrates that five-year relative survival has increased for kidney cancer between 1985-1989 and 2020-2024 from 50% to 84%.