Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) statistics

• There are around 840 new chronic myeloid leukaemia cases in the UK every year, that's more than 2 every day (2017-2019).
• Chronic myeloid leukaemia accounted for less than 1% of all new cancer cases in the UK in 2017-2019.
• Incidence rates for chronic myeloid leukaemia in the UK are highest in people aged 90+ (2017-2019).
• Each year around a quarter (24%) of all new chronic myeloid leukaemia cases in the UK are diagnosed in people aged 75 and over (2017-2019).
• Since the early 1990s, breast carcinoma in situ incidence rates have around tripled (201%) in the UK. Rates in females have around tripled (202%), and rates in males have more than doubled (138%) (2017-2019).
• Over the last decade, chronic myeloid leukaemia incidence rates have increased by around a tenth (9%) in the UK. Rates in females have increased by a sixth (17%), and rates in males have remained stable (2017-2019).
• Chronic myeloid leukaemia incidence rates in England in females are similar in the most deprived quintile compared with the least, and in males are similar in the most deprived quintile compared with the least (2013-2017).
• Incidence rates for chronic myeloid leukaemia are higher in the Asian ethnic group, compared with the White ethnic group, in England (2013-2017). See our publication Cancer Incidence by Broad Ethnic Group for more details.
• An estimated 6,000 people who had previously been diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) were alive in the UK at the end of 2010.

See more in-depth CML incidence statistics

• There are around 220 chronic myeloid leukaemia deaths in the UK every year, that's more than 4 every week (2017-2019).
• Mortality rates for chronic myeloid leukaemia in the UK are highest in people aged 90+ (2017-2019).
• Each year around two-thirds (67%) of chronic myeloid leukaemia deaths in the UK are in people aged 75 and over (2017-2019).
• Since the early 1970s, chronic myeloid leukaemia mortality rates have decreased by almost three-quarters (73%) in the UK. Rates in females have decreased by more than three-quarters (77%), and rates in males have decreased by seven-tenths (70%) (2017-2019).
• Over the last decade, chronic myeloid leukaemia mortality rates have remained stable in the UK. Rates in females have decreased by around a fifth (21%), and rates in males have remained stable (2017-2019).
• Mortality rates for lymphomas and leukaemias in the UK in females are 10% higher in the most deprived quintile compared with the least, and rates in males are similar in the most deprived quintile compared with the least.
• Around 740 deaths from lymphomas and leukaemias each year in the UK are linked with deprivation (around 350 in females, and around 390 in males).

Further mortality by deprivation statistics and charts can be found on the Cancer Research UK's Cancer Statistics Data Hub.

See more in-depth CML mortality statistics

• Chronic myeloid leukaemia survival data are available on the HMRN website.
• Five-year relative survival for chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) is generally similar to the European average in the UK.
• Further one-, five- and ten-year survival statistics can be found on the Cancer Statistics Dashboard.