Children's cancers mortality statistics

The most common causes of cancer death in children are malignant brain, other central nervous system (CNS) and intracranial tumours, followed by leukaemia.[1-3]

Routinely-collected mortality data are presented by ICD-10 code. However, this coding framework is generally not appropriate for cancer in children because it defines tumours using body site rather than cell type, and the latter is more important for cancer in children. ICD-10 coding is considered reliable for malignant brain and other CNS tumours and leukaemias in children.[4] Finer breakdowns of deaths by cancer type are available but the data are not recent.[5]

Children’s Cancers by Cancer Type, Average Number of Deaths per Year, Age 0-14, UK, 2016-2018

See also

Cancer mortality statistics for all cancers in the UK

References

  1. Data were provided by the Office for National Statistics on request, November 2019. Similar data can be found here: http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths.
  2. Data were provided by ISD Scotland on request, October 2019. Similar data can be found here: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Cancer/Publications/index.asp.
  3. Data were provided by the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry on request, June 2020. Similar data can be found here: http://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/nicr/.
  4. Public Health England. Childhood Cancer Mortality in the UK and Internationally, 2005-2010. Available from http://www.ncin.org.uk/view?rid=3027, accessed January 2020.
  5. Stiller C (Ed.) Childhood cancer in Britain: incidence, survival and mortality. Oxford University Press, 2007.

About this data

Data is for UK, 2016-2018, Brain ICD-10 C70-C72;Leukaemia ICD-10 C91-C95; Other cancers ICD-10 C00-C69, C73-C90, C96-C97, D32-D33, D35.2-D35.4, D42-D43, D44.3-D44.5; All cancers combined C00-C97, D32-D33, D35.2-D35.4, D42-D43, D44.3-D44.5.

Last reviewed:

Cancer (excluding benign, uncertain and unknown behaviour brain, other CNS and intracranial tumours) is the leading cause of death for boys and girls aged 1-14. Cancer accounted for 23% of all deaths in this age group in 2021).[1-3]

See also

Find out more about the counting and coding of this data

Cancer mortality statistics by age

Cancer incidence by age statistics

Cancer survival by age statistics

References

  1. England and Wales data were from the Office for National Statistics, accessed December 2022: Nomis mortality statistics by underlying cause, sex and age.
  2. Scotland data were from the National Records of Scotland, accessed December 2022: Vital Events Reference Tables. https://www.opendata.nhs.scot/dataset/cancer-mortality
  3. Northern Ireland data were from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, accessed December 2022: Registrar General Annual Report 2021 Cause of Death

About this data

Data is for UK, 2021, at ICD-10 chapter level for ICD-10 A00-R99, V01-Y98 and U00-U85, except for ICD-10 C00-D48 (neoplasms) which is split into C00-C97 (malignant neoplasms) and D00-D48 (in situ and benign neoplasms, and neoplasms of uncertain or unknown behaviour).

Last reviewed:

An estimated 17,700 children’s cancer deaths had been avoided in the UK by 2018 because mortality rates have fallen since the 1970s.[1]

Children's Cancers (C00-C97, D32-D33, D35.2-D35.4, D42-D43, D44.3-D44.5), Observed Deaths, and Expected Deaths if Mortality Rates Had Not Fallen from Peak, Ages 0-14, UK, 1971-2018

Cancer incidence statistics for children’s cancers in the UK

Cancer survival statistics for children’s cancers in the UK

References

  1. Calculated by the Cancer Intelligence Team at Cancer Research UK, 2021, based on method set out in Siegel R, Ward E, Brawley O, Jemal A., Cancer statistics, 2011: the impact of eliminating socioeconomic and racial disparities on premature cancer deaths. CA Cancer J Clin. 2011 Jul-Aug;61(4):212-36.

About this data

Data is for UK, 1971-2018, ICD-10 C00-C97, D32-D33, D35.2-D35.4, D42-D43, D44.3-D44.5.

The number of avoided cancer deaths is estimated by comparing the actual number of cancer deaths observed, with number of cancer deaths expected if mortality rates had not fallen from their observed peak. The number of cancer deaths expected is calculated by applying the cancer mortality rate in the overall peak year, to the total population in each subsequent year. These calculations are made for males and females separately in each five-year age band (e.g. using age-specific mortality rates for the overall peak year), and summed to create the UK total.

Last reviewed:

Cancer stats explained

See information and explanations on terminology used for statistics and reporting of cancer, and the methods used to calculate some of our statistics.

Cancer stats explained

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the many organisations across the UK which collect, analyse, and share the data which we use, and to the patients and public who consent for their data to be used. Find out more about the sources which are essential for our statistics.