The number of new cases of breast and prostate cancer in Australia has jumped, says global survey for 2013.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in Australia, while the number of women with breast cancer and men with prostate cancer has jumped.

The number of new prostate cancer cases in Australia more than doubled between 1990 and 2013, up from 6500 to 22,100.

Breast cancer cases nearly doubled, from 7700 to 14,400.

The Global Burden of Cancer 2013 study, published in the journal JAMA Oncology, was co-ordinated by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

Lung cancer was the leading cause of cancer deaths globally with 1.6 million cases - 9363 in Australia.

In 2013, there were 14.9 million new cancer cases and 8.2 million cancer deaths worldwide.

Study co-author Dr Robyn Lucas from the Australian National University said the significant increase in new prostrate cancer among Australian men was particularly alarming.

Prostrate cancer cases globally increased more than threefold between 1990 and 2013, partly due to population growth and ageing.

Similar factors contributed to the global rise in breast cancer cases in women.

Lead author Dr Christina Fitzmaurice said cancer remained a major threat to people's health around the world.

"Cancer prevention, screening, and treatment programs are costly, and it is very important for countries to know which cancers cause the highest disease burden in order to allocate scarce resources appropriately," she said.

Melanoma did not rank in the top 10 for diagnoses globally but ranked fourth in Australia.

Similarly, bladder cancer was not ranked in the top 10 of cases but ranked eighth in Australia.

CANCER DEATHS IN AUSTRALIA IN 2013
1 - Lung cancer, 9363
2 - Colorectal cancer, 6039
3 - Prostate cancer, 4156
4 - Breast cancer, 3283
5 - Pancreatic cancer, 2917
6 - Lymphoma, 2001
7 - Other neoplasms, 1960
8 - Stomach cancer, 1943
9 - Leukaemia, 1665
10 - Melanoma, 1656

Source: The Global Burden of Cancer 2013 study.