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Cervical cancer: know the facts

Global Statistics 2023

• Worldwide, cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer affecting women (ranking fourth for both incidence and mortality).
• In 2022, an estimated 604,000 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer worldwide, and over 342,000 women died from the disease.  
• 90% of cases and deaths occur on low- and middle-income countries.1

Australian Statistics 2023

• Cervical cancer was estimated to be the 13th most commonly diagnosed cancer among females in Australia in 2022.2
• In 2021, 851 new cases of cervical cancer were diagnosed in women in Australia, and in 2020 209 women died from the disease.
• Indigenous women are 2 times as likely to develop cervical cancer, and 3.8 times as likely to die from cervical cancer than non-Indigenous Australian women.
• The five-year survival rate for women diagnosed with cervical cancer (measured between 2014-2018) is 74%4. In comparison, breast and prostate cancers have a five-year survival rate of 92% and 96% respectively.3
• Over the 4 years 2018–2021, more than 4.2 million people aged 25–74 had a screening HPV test. This is estimated to be 62% of the eligible population. 4
• Self-collection became an available screening option for women and people with a cervix in July 2022. Early 2023 figures indicate that self-collection accounts for up to 16% of cervical screenings. 
• Among young people turning 15 in 2020, 80.5% of girls and 77.6% of boys were fully immunised against HPV.5
• As of February 2023, only one dose of the HPV vaccine is needed. This is reduced from the 2 or 3 doses required previously.