The State of Cancer in New Zealand 2025

He Pūrongo Mate Pukupuku o Aotearoa 2025

As part of our ongoing work to provide oversight of cancer control, we published The State of Cancer in New Zealand 2025 | He Pūrongo Mate Pukupuku o Aotearoa 2025 (the 2025 report), alongside a companion Insights and Summary Report and an online data dashboard. The 2025 report provides an evidence-based assessment of cancer care in New Zealand since the publication of the last report, He Pūrongo Mate Pukupuku o Aotearoa 2020 | The State of Cancer in New Zealand 2020 in March 2021.

The 2025 report is structured around key stages of the cancer continuum – from prevention and screening, through diagnosis and treatment, to survivorship and palliative care – and includes a dedicated chapter on system enablers such as workforce, infrastructure, data and technology, and research and innovation.

The full report uses evidence to highlight how the cancer system is performing, where progress has been made over the past 5 years and where opportunities for improvements remain. It contains the full references, data sources used in the writing of the report and explanations of the terms used (these are not included in this insights and summary publication).

Key insights include:

The number of people diagnosed with cancer every year is projected to rise from over 30,000 in 2025 to over 45,000 by 2044.
Māori, Pacific peoples and those living in the most socioeconomically deprived areas continue to experience poorer cancer outcomes.
Screening rates are improving, however, there are inequities for Māori and Asian populations across all screening programmes, and for Pacific peoples in some screening programmes.
Five-year net survival across all cancers has improved. However, Māori are 1.6 times more likely to die from cancer than people of European/other ethnicity.
Despite positive initiatives over the last 5 years, the cancer workforce has been facing persistent and growing challenges, including shortages across nearly all professions and unsustainable pressure as cancer incidence rises.

The 2025 report does not make explicit recommendations; instead, its findings have directly informed the refreshed New Zealand Cancer Action Plan 2026–2029. This plan builds on investments and progress made since the release of the 2019–2029 Plan (available on the Ministry of Health website), while reflecting changes in cancer treatments and the health system.

We are sharing these 2025 Reports with our health partners and organisations across the cancer sector, to continue focusing our collective efforts to improve cancer outcomes and services for all people in New Zealand, and inform future planning, advocacy and service delivery.

Ngā mihi nui (thank you very much) to all who contributed to this important mahi.

Visit the State of Cancer online dashboard.

Downloadable formats

State of Cancer 2025 Insights and Summary A3 Infographic. The Accessible PDF link above has an alternative text version of this image.

Te reo Māori copy of an A3 infographic in the Insights and Summary Report linked above. The Accessible PDF link above has an alternative text version of this image.