Survival for lung cancer

About these statistics

The terms 1 year survival and 5 year survival don't mean that you will only live for 1 or 5 years.

The NHS, other health organisations, and researchers collect information. They record what happens to people with cancer in the years after their diagnosis. 5 years is a common time point to measure survival. But some people live much longer than this.

5 year survival is the number of people who have not died from their cancer within 5 years after diagnosis.

Survival by lung cancer stage

There are no UK-wide statistics available for lung cancer survival by stage.

Survival statistics are available for each stage of lung cancer in England. These figures are for people diagnosed in England between 2016 and 2020. These statistics are non-age-standardised which means they don't take into account the age of the people with lung cancer.

Stage 1

Almost 65 out of 100 people (almost 65%) with stage 1 lung cancer will survive their cancer for 5 years or more after they’re diagnosed.

Stage 2

Around 40 out of 100 people (around 40%) with stage 2 lung cancer will survive their cancer for 5 years or more after they’re diagnosed. 

Stage 3

Around 15 out of 100 people (around 15%) with stage 3 lung cancer will survive their cancer for 5 years or more after they’re diagnosed. 

Stage 4

Around 5 out of 100 people (around 5%) with stage 4 lung cancer will survive their cancer for 5 years or more after they’re diagnosed. 

Find out about the stages of lung cancer

Survival for all stages of lung cancer

The UK survival statistics come from England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland have a similar population and health care system. So we can apply these survival statistics to the whole of the UK.

Generally for adults with lung cancer in the UK:

• almost 45 of every 100 (almost 45%) survive their cancer for 1 year or more

• more than 15 out of every 100 (more than 15%) survive their cancer for 5 years or more 

• around 10 out of every 100 (around 10%) survive their cancer for 10 years or more

Conditional survival for lung cancer

For some cancer types, ​prognosis​ improves as time passes. For example, your chances of surviving your cancer for a total of 5 years or more after diagnosis are higher if you have already survived a year since diagnosis. Doctors call this conditional survival. It gives an updated picture of your prognosis. It takes into account how long you have already survived since diagnosis.    

For people in England who survive their lung cancer for 1 year or more after diagnosis:

• around 45 out of 100 people (around 45%) survive their cancer for 5 years or more

Read more about conditional survival

What affects survival

Your outlook depends on the stage of the cancer when it was diagnosed. This means how big it is and whether it has spread.

The type of cancer can also affect your survival. The type means which type of cell the cancer started from.

Your general fitness and other health conditions also affect survival. Health conditions could affect the treatments you can have. And good general fitness might help you cope better with your cancer and treatment.

For lung cancer, gene changes (mutations) can also affect survival. You will have a test called the FISH test to look for any gene changes.

More statistics

For more in-depth information about survival and lung cancer, go to our Cancer Statistics section.