Survival for stomach 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.
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
The stage of a cancer tells you about its size and whether it has spread. Your outlook (prognosis) depends on the stage of your cancer at diagnosis.
There are no UK-wide statistics available for stomach cancer survival by stage.
Survival statistics are available for each stage of stomach cancer in England. These figures are for people diagnosed between 2013 and 2017.
Please bear in mind that these statistics do not take into account what treatment people had.
Stage 1
65 out of 100 people (65%) with stage 1 stomach cancer will survive their cancer for 5 years or more after they're diagnosed.
Stage 2
Around 35 out of 100 people (around 35%) with stage 2 stomach cancer will survive their cancer for 5 years or more after they're diagnosed.
Stage 3
Around 25 out of 100 people (around 25%) with stage 3 stomach cancer will survive their cancer for 5 years or more after they're diagnosed.
Stage 4
There are no 5 year survival statistics for stage 4 cancer. This is because sadly most people don't live for that long after diagnosis.
The Office for National Statistics does provide statistics for 1 year survival for people with stage 4 stomach cancer.
(Please remember, this doesn't mean you will only live 1 year. It relates to the number of people who are still alive 1 year after their diagnosis of cancer. Some of these people might live longer than 1 year.)
Around 20 out of 100 people (around 20%) with stage 4 stomach cancer will survive their cancer for 1 year or more after their diagnosis.
Cancer survival by stage at diagnosis for England, 2019
Office for National Statistics
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 the background mortality that they would have experienced if they had not had cancer.
Survival for all stages of stomach 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 stomach cancer in the UK:
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45 out of every 100 (45%) survive their cancer for 1 year or more
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around 20 out of every 100 (around 20%) survive their cancer for 5 years or more
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around 15 out of every 100 (around 15%) survive their cancer for 10 years or more
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 people 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).
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.
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 and grade of the cancer cells can also affect your survival. Grade means how abnormal the cells look under the microscope.
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.
More statistics
For more in-depth information about survival and stomach cancer, go to our Cancer Statistics section.
