If you live in Australia all your life, what are the chances of developing a type of skin cancer?

the chances are one in two people who have lived in Australia all their life will develop a form a type of skin cancer. hope that helps :)

The chances of Australians having any form of skin cancer is about 1 in 3, however this is increasing and is approaching a chance of about 1 in 2.

Obviously there are other contributing factors apart from just living in Australia but there is a direct link between sun exposure and cancer. Australia has one of the highest skin cancer rates comparitive to population in the world.

Prolonged sun exposure can cause damage to the dna of a cell and subsequent reproduction of this cell is how a cancer grows.

Using sunscreen cans help prevent the sun causing any initial damge to the skin that would make you succeptible to a skin cancer growing, however no sunscreen is 'cancer proof' and you should always protect yourself by wearing a hat, clothing and sunscreen as well as avoiding spending time in the sun during the hottest part of the day (early afternoon).

So the best thing to do is be sensible with your sun exposure, as it is not necessarily the fact that you live in Australia but the amount of sun exposure you have that will most greatly affect your chances of developing a skin cancer.

Hope that helps.

If you treat sunlight with the respect that you should (wear a hat, use sunscreen ALWAYS if you're going to be exposed to the sun long for periods) then there isn't that much risk at all.

If you just hang around in the sun all day without protecting yourself at all... then yeah, there's a great risk.

They are higher than anywhere else due to the heat and amount of sun that is available
and also the ozone layer has deteriated above australia, but dont worry about it! The only time you need to worry is when it affects you but I am sure it wont