Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are more likely to get cancer and far more likely to die from the disease than non-Indigenous people, with remoteness having a dramatic impact on their prospects.

According to new data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), between 2011 and 2015 Indigenous Australians were 10% more likely to acquire cancer and 1.4 times more likely to die from it.

While there have been improvements in survival rates, Indigenous people are still more likely to die from preventable cancers such lung, liver and cervical cancer.

The AIHW pointed to a range of contributing factors, including social disadvantage, higher rates of smoking, poor nutrition, physical inactivity and poor access to health services, in noting the rates could be linked to preventable risks.

AIHW spokesman Justin Harvey said this link suggested there was room for improvement, by reducing the risk factors such as smoking and diagnosing cancers earlier before they reach more advanced stages.

Indigenous people were 2.1 times more likely to be diagnosed with lung cancer and 1.8 times more likely to die from it than non-Indigenous people. It was the leading cause of death for both cohorts but far more common for Indigenous people, with 55.3 deaths per 100,000 people, compared with the non-Indigenous rate of 30.3.

Indigenous women were more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with cervical cancer.

Living in a remote or regional area also affected mortality rates far more dramatically for Indigenous people than non-Indigenous people, whose mortality rates only varied between 118.4 and 139.3 deaths per 100,000. By comparison, Indigenous rates fluctuated between 159 and 245.5.

Remote areas had the highest rate of Indigenous people dying of cancer, with 245.5 deaths for every 100,000 Indigenous people, while for non-Indigenous people there was a higher mortality rate in outer regional areas.

For Indigenous people living in remote communities, access to medical clinics, as well as fear and mistrust of the medical system are often cited as contributing factors.

Prof Sanchia Aranda, chief executive of Cancer Council Australia, called for Indigenous communities to talk more about cancer, increase engagement with screening services and remove stigma associated with the illness.

“We continue to see Aboriginal Australians disproportionately affected by smoking-related cancers, so lung and head and neck cancer,” Aranda said.

“This contributes to the reason why more Indigenous people die of cancer, because they are getting these much-more-difficult-to-treat cancers with poorer prognosis.”

Rates of smoking among Indigenous people are falling at a much faster rate than among non-Indigenous people, but still remain higher. In 2016 the proportion of Indigenous people who smoked fell below 40% for the first time.