Uterine Cancer Statistics


What is uterine cancer?

Uterine cancer occurs when cells in the uterus grow and divide in an abnormal, uncontrolled way. Approximately 95% of uterine cancers are endometrial cancers that start in the lining of the uterus (endometrium). The less common form of uterine cancer is uterine sarcomas that start in cells of the muscle (muometrium) and connective tissue (stroma) of the uterus.

You can access further information about uterine 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 uterine cancer?

In 2021, 844 Victorian females were diagnosed with uterine cancer. Currently, uterine cancer is diagnosed at a rate of 14.6 per 100,000 females. The median age at diagnosis of uterine cancer is 64 (Figure 1 & 2). Accounting for 2.3% of all cancers diagnosed and 1.4% of all cancer-related deaths in 2021, uterine cancer was the 5th most commonly diagnosed cancer and the 9th most common cause of cancer-related deaths in Victorian females.


Figure 1: Distribution of uterine cancer incidence in 2021, by age groups

Source: Victorian Cancer Registry (2023)


Figure 2: Distribution of uterine cancer incidence in 2021, compared to the distribution of the Victorian population in 2021, by 5-year age brackets

Source: Victorian Cancer Registry (2023)

Uterine cancer morphology

Figure 4 provides a summary of the different types of cells (morphology) which have caused uterine cancer among all cases. Most uterine cancer tumours, 73.4%, present as Endometrioid carcinoma tumours.


Figure 4: Distribution of uterine cancer morphologies between 2012-2021

Source: Victorian Cancer Registry (2023)


Uterine cancer subtypes

Figure 5 provides a breakdown of uterine cancer by subsite location in 2021. Most (97%) are found in the Endometrium section of the uterus.


Figure 5: Distribution of uterine cancer subsites in 2021

Source: Victorian Cancer Registry (2023)

Geographical variance in uterine cancer by local government area

Figure 5 demonstrates variation in age-standardised incidence rates of uterine cancer, by local government areas. Darker shading indicates areas with higher rates of uterine cancer.


Figure 5: Variation in the incidence of uterine cancer for the period 2017-2021, by location of residence in Victoria

Source: Victorian Cancer Registry (2023)


Uterine cancer in people born overseas

Figure 7 shows the age standardised incidence rates of uterine cancer in Australian-born Victorian females compared to other major migrant groups, over the five-year period 2017 to 2021. The highest age standardised incidence rate of 17.8 was observed in those born in the Southern Europe region and lowest rate of 7.7 was observed in people born in the North-East Asia region.


Figure 6: Age standardised incidence rates and 95% confidence intervals for uterine cancer in Victorians born in Australia compared to Victorians born in other countries for the period 2017-2021


Source: Victorian Cancer Registry (2023)



Uterine cancer five-year relative survival

Figure 8 shows the change in 5-year survival for uterine 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 uterine cancer between 1986-1990 and 2016-2020 from 77% to 82%.

Figure 7: Trend in five year relative survival following diagnosis of uterine cancer in five year brackets, from the period 1986-1990 to 2016-2020

Source: Victorian Cancer Registry (2023)

This webpage was last updated in February 2023