of melanoma. In 2012, deaths from melanoma occurred in 7.3–9.8 per 100,000 population. In Australia, melanoma is the third most common cancer in either sex; indeed, its incidence is higher than for lung cancer, although the latter accounts for more deaths. It is estimated that in 2012, more than 12,000 Australians were diagnosed with melanoma: given Australia's modest population, this is better expressed as 59.6 new cases per 100,000 population per year; >1 in 10 of all new cancer cases were melanomas. Melanoma incidence in Australia is matter of significance, for the following reasons: Australian melanoma incidence has increased by more than 30 per cent between 1991 and 2009. Australian melanoma age-standardized incidence rates were, as of 2008, at least 12 times higher than the world average. Australian melanoma incidence is, by some margin, the highest in the world. Overall age-standardized cancer incidence in Australia is the highest in the world, and this is attributable to melanoma alone. Age-standardized overall cancer incidence is similar to New Zealand, but there is a statistically significant difference between Australia and all other parts of the developed world including North America, Western Europe, and the Mediterranean. United States In the United States, about 9,000 people die from melanoma a year. In 2011, it affected 19.7 per 100,000, and resulted in death in 2.7 per 100,000. In 2013: 71,943 people in the United States were diagnosed with melanomas of the skin, including 42,430 men and 29,513 women. 9,394 people in the United States died from melanomas of the skin, including 6,239 men and 3,155 women. The American Cancer Society's estimates for melanoma incidence in the United States for 2017 are: About 87,110 new melanomas will be diagnosed (about 52,170 in men and 34,940 in women). About 9,730 people are expected to die of melanoma (about 6,380 men and 3,350 women). Melanoma is more than 20 times more common in whites than in African Americans. Overall, the lifetime risk of getting melanoma is about 2.5% (1 in 40) for whites, 0.1% (1 in 1,000) for African Americans, and 0.5% (1 in 200) for Hispanics. The risk of melanoma increases as people age. The average age of people when the disease is diagnosed is 63. History Although melanoma is not a new disease, evidence for its occurrence in antiquity is rather scarce. However, one example lies in a 1960s examination of nine Peruvian mummies, radiocarbon dated to