The number of bowel cancer cases in New Zealand is decreasing - despite global trends which suggest otherwise.

Data from The International Agency for Research shows countries with high levels of economic development have increasing rates of bowel cancer - in both deaths and contraction of the disease.

But of the 184 countries studied by the International Agency for Research New Zealand, Australia, Iceland, France, the USA and Japan's rates of the disease are now decreasing.

The International Agency for Research used data from 184 countries and found rates of bowel cancer increase with levels of economic development.

However the same authors noted countries like New Zealand and Australia, which have some of the highest levels of economic development, are now showing a decline in deaths from the disease.

The downward trend's not spread equally among our population, with rates of bowel cancer decreasing far more quickly in New Zealand Europeans, than for Maori and Pacific groups.