Globally, in 2012, it newly occurred in 232,000 people.[2] In 2015, 3.1 million people had active disease, which resulted in 59,800 deaths.
It is very rare to actually have “melanoma,” fortunately. Only 232,000 people, worldwide, get it, per year, or “0.003%” (population is now 7.9 billion).
It sounds like misidentification has got to be off the charts common.
It has been that way since the 1990s.
No doubt fear of malpractice liability and potentially terminal patients also factor into it.
On the other hand, excisional biopsies and lab work are definitely profit centers.