Bladder Cancer Statistics


What is bladder cancer?

Bladder cancer occurs when cells in the lining of the bladder grow and divide in an abnormal, uncontrolled way. There are three main types of bladder cancer. Approximately 90% of bladder cancers are urothelial carcinoma, which begins in urothelial cells of the bladders lining. The less common types are squammous cell carcinoma (develop in the bladder lining) and adenocarcinoma (develops from glandular cells).

You can access further information about bladder 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 bladder cancer?

In 2022, 723 Victorians were diagnosed with bladder cancer. Of these, there were 548 males and 175 females, representing 75.8% and 24.2% of the total Victorian bladder cancer diagnoses, respectively. Currently, bladder cancer is diagnosed at a rate of 7.1 per 100,000 males and 2.1 per 100,000 females. The median age at diagnosis of bladder cancer is 73 years in males and 75 in females (Figure 1 & 2). Accounting for 2% of all cancers diagnosed and 2.6% of all cancer-related deaths in 2022, bladder cancer was the 14th most commonly diagnosed cancer and the 12th most common cause of cancer-related deaths in Victoria.


Figure 1: Distribution of bladder cancer incidence in 2022, by sex within age groups
3 1 4 4 40 13 91 36 178 46 232 75 0 50 100 150 200 250 Under 40 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 80+ Age at diagnosis (years) Number of diagnoses in 2022 Male Female

Source: Victorian Cancer Registry (2024)


Figure 2: Distribution of bladder cancer incidence in 2022, compared to the distribution of the Victorian population in 2022, by 5-year age brackets
0% 4% 8% 12% 16% 20% Percentage of population Population distribution by age 0-4 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75-79 80-84 85+ -0.050 -0.025 0.000 0.025 0.050 0% 4% 8% 12% 16% 20% Percentage of population Bladder cancer distribution by age

Source: Victorian Cancer Registry (2024)

Bladder cancer morphology

Figure 4 provides a summary of the different types of cells (morphology) which have caused bladder cancer among all cases. Most bladder cancer tumours, 90.4%, present as Urothelial carcinoma tumours.


Figure 4: Distribution of bladder cancer morphologies between 2013-2022
90.4%5.02%2.76%1.78%
Urothelial carcinomaUnspecified cell typeOther cell typesNeuroendocrine

Source: Victorian Cancer Registry (2024)


Geographical variance in bladder cancer by local government area

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


Figure 5: Variation in the incidence of bladder cancer for the period 2018-2022, by location of residence in Victoria

Source: Victorian Cancer Registry (2024)


Bladder cancer in people born overseas

Figure 6 shows the age standardised incidence rates of bladder cancer in Australian-born Victorians compared to other major migrant groups, over the five-year period 2017 to 2021. The highest age standardised incidence rate for bladder cancer was 11.2 for males born in the Middle East and North Africa region and the lowest rate of 3.1 was observed in males born in the South-East Asia region. The highest age standardised incidence rate for bladder cancer was 2.5 for females born in the Other Europe region and lowest rate of 0.9 was observed in females born in the South and Central America region.


Figure 6: Age standardised incidence rates and 95% confidence intervals for bladder cancer in Victorians born in Australia compared to Victorians born in other countries for the period 2017-2021, by sex
020406080100North AmericaSouth and Central AmericaAfricaOther EuropeMiddle East and North AfricaSouthern EuropeUK and IrelandNorth-East AsiaSouth-East AsiaSouthern and Central AsiaAustralia and New Zealand
MaleAge standardised incidence rate (per 100,000)

Source: Victorian Cancer Registry (2024)


020406080North AmericaSouth and Central AmericaAfricaOther EuropeMiddle East and North AfricaSouthern EuropeUK and IrelandNorth-East AsiaSouth-East AsiaSouthern and Central AsiaAustralia and New Zealand
FemaleAge standardised incidence rate (per 100,000)

Source: Victorian Cancer Registry (2024)



Bladder cancer five-year relative survival

Figure 7 shows the change in 5-year survival for bladder cancer, and the 5-year survival trend for all cancers over the same time period. It demonstrates that five-year relative survival has decreased for bladder cancer between 1982-1986 and 2017-2021 from 68% to 56%.

Figure 7: Trend in five year relative survival following diagnosis of bladder cancer in five year brackets, from the period 1982-1986 to 2017-2021
0 20 40 60 80 100 1982-1986 1987-1991 1992-1996 1997-2001 2002-2006 2007-2011 2012-2016 2017-2021 Year 5-year relative survival (%) Five-year relative survival across all cancers

Source: Victorian Cancer Registry (2024)

This webpage was last updated in June 2024

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