Survival for ovarian cancer

Survival depends on many factors. No one can tell you exactly how long you will live.

Below are general statistics based on large groups of people. Remember, they can’t tell you what will happen in your individual case.

Your doctor can give you more information about your own outlook (prognosis). You can also talk about this with the Cancer Research UK information nurses on freephone 0808 800 4040, from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

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 stage

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

Survival statistics are available for each stage of ovarian cancer in England. These figures are for people diagnosed between 2016 and 2020.

Stage 1

95 out of 100 women (95%) will survive their cancer for 5 years or more after they are diagnosed.

Stage 2

More than 70 out of 100 women (more than 70%) will survive their cancer for 5 years or more after being diagnosed.

Stage 3

More than 30 out of 100 women (more than 30%) will survive their cancer for 5 years or more after they are diagnosed.

Stage 4

Around 15 out of 100 women (around 15%) will survive their cancer for 5 years or more after they are diagnosed.

Where this information comes from

Cancer survival in England, cancers diagnosed 2016 to 2020, followed up to 2021
NHS England

These statistics are for net survival. Net survival estimates the number of people who survive their cancer rather than calculating the number of people diagnosed with cancer who are still alive. In other words, it is the survival of cancer patients after taking into account that some people would have died from other causes if they had not had cancer.

Survival for all stages of ovarian 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 women with ovarian cancer in the UK:

almost 80 out of every 100 (almost 80%) survive their cancer for 1 year or more
more than 50 out of every 100 (more than 50%) survive their cancer for 5 years or more
around 40 out of every 100 (around 40%) survive their cancer for 10 years or more

Where this information comes from

Trends over 48 years in a one-number index of survival for all cancers combined, England and Wales (1971–2018): a population-based registry study
M Coleman and others
The Lancet Regional Health - Europe, 2025. Volume 56, Article number 101385

These figures are for women diagnosed with cancer in England and Wales between 1971 and 2018, followed up to 2019 using individual records from the National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) for England, and the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit (WCISU).

What affects survival

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

The type and grade of ovarian cancer affects your likely survival. Grade means how abnormal the cells look under the microscope.

Your likely survival is also affected by whether the surgeon can remove all the cancer during initial surgery.

Your general health and fitness may also affect survival. Doctors have a way of grading how well you are. This is called performance status. Those with a good performance status have a better outlook.

Age also affects outcome and survival is better for younger people.

More statistics

For more in-depth information about survival and other statistics for ovarian cancer, go to our Cancer Statistics section.