More than 19,000 invasive cancer cases were diagnosed on average each year from 2009 to 2011, according to the latest report from the National Cancer Registry.
There were almost 9,000 deaths from cancer in 2011, making it the second-most common cause of death after cardiovascular disease. The statistics show a lifetime risk of one in three for men and one in four for women.
The report said 12 per cent of all cancers diagnosed were in people under 40.
For most cancers, five-year survival rates in the Republic were fairly similar to those observed in the UK.
The report said the incidence of female breast cancer was increasing in the Republic and the UK, with the rate of increase here almost twice that in the UK. The report said this was probably due to the introduction of breast screening in Ireland.
Cervical cancer
The rates of invasive cervical cancer are increasing in the Republic but decreasing in the UK, where screening is well-established.
Prostate cancer incidence rates in the Republic continue to increase more rapidly than in the UK and, in 2012, were more than 1.5 times higher than in the UK. This has been attributed to the widespread use of prostate- specific antigen (PSA) testing here since the mid-1990s.
Melanoma incidence is increasing rapidly in Ireland and Britain. Both countries had higher incidence rates than the EU average in 2012.
Survival from the common cancers improved in Ireland between the periods 1995-1999 and 2000-2007, but there was little change in the ranking of Ireland relative to other European countries. The exception was non-Hodgkin lymphoma, survival from which ranked 20th in Europe in 1995-1999 but ninth in 2000-2007. Survival from cancers of the ovary and kidney remains among the worst in Europe.