Cancer - leading cause of death among females

The leading cause of death in 1995 for females was cancer (all types), which accounted for 26 percent of all deaths. Although female age-standardised rates for cancer are lower than for males, female rates have increased by 5 percent over the last ten years, while male rates have dropped 3 percent.
Breast cancer was the leading cause of cancer death for females in 1995 (25.5 deaths per 100,000 population) and although numbers of deaths have increased by 21 percent over the last decade, age-standardised rates have increased by only 2 percent.

http://www2.stats.govt.nz/domino/external/web/nzstories.nsf/0/d393a86a4ecc6deacc256b180006d772?OpenDocument