Every day six Australians are diagnosed with brain and other central nervous system cancers. Many of them are children and just two will be alive five years later.
Data released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare on Wednesday confirms the stark inequality in survival for these types of cancers.
Approximately 2100 cases of brain and other CNS cancers will be diagnosed in Australia this year, of these 110 will be children 14 and younger.
An estimated 1500 people will die from these cancers-- equating to four deaths a day. Nearly 40 children will die.
Despite increasingly positive outcomes for many types of cancer, brain and other central nervous system cancers continue to buck this trend.
From 2009 to 2013, people diagnosed with brain and other CNS cancers had a 25 per cent chance of surviving five years compared with 68 per cent for people with all other types of cancer.
"While five-year survival rates for all cancers improved 20 percentage points over the last 30 years, there have been no clear improvements for brain and other central nervous system cancers,' said AIHW spokeswoman Dr Lynelle Moon.
The report also reveals that the health burden of brain and other CNS cancers is significant, despite being relatively rare - representing just 1.5 per cent of all cancers diagnosed.
"Brain and other central nervous system cancers are the 17th on the list of most commonly diagnosed cancers, but are 6th when it comes to the causes of cancer burden," Dr Moon said.
"Sadly, 96 per cent of that burden is due to dying prematurely as a result of these cancers."
Cancer Council Australia CEO Sanchia Aranda said more research is needed to better understand brain cancer.
"We have seen no improvement in brain cancer survival rates over the last 30 years - demonstrating the stark inequalities in cancer outcomes between different cancer types," Prof Aranda said.
