Cancer Deaths

What are our most common causes of cancer death?

Approximately 9,500 New Zealanders die from cancer each year. The cancers causing the most deaths are lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancers.

The first graph below shows the most common causes of cancer death for females. The second graph shows the most common causes of cancer death for males.

Technical note

Data for these figures came from the National Mortality Collection, managed by Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand.

Figures showing the top-10 most common causes of cancer death were created from the most recent five-year period for which data were available from the National Collections.

Rate data are age-standardised to the 2001 Māori Census Population.

Te Aho o Te Kahu-generated charts present data using 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) to show the statistical precision of the estimates. Wider confidence intervals indicate less precise estimates than narrow intervals, caused by higher variation with the smaller numbers used in the analysis.

For more information please contact info@teaho.govt.nz.