Cancer Statistics for the UK

Cancer incidence

There are more than 385,000 new cancer cases in the UK every year, that's more than 1,000 every day (2017-2019).
In females in the UK, there are more than 186,000 new cancer cases every year (2017-2019).
In males in the UK, there are around 199,000 new cancer cases every year (2017-2019).
Every two minutes someone in the UK is diagnosed with cancer.
Breast, prostate, lung, and bowel cancers together accounted for over half (53%) of all new cancer cases in the UK in 2017-2019.
Incidence rates for all cancers excluding non-melanoma skin cancer in the UK are highest in people aged 85 to 89 (2017-2019).
Each year more than a third (36%) of all new cancer cases (excluding non-melanoma skin cancers) in the UK are diagnosed in people aged 75 and over (2017-2019).
Incidence rates for all cancers combined are lower in the Asian and Black ethnic groups, and in people of mixed or multiple ethnicity, compared with the White ethnic group, in England. However, incidence rates are higher compared with the White ethnic group in males in the Black ethnic group (2013-2017). See our publication Cancer Incidence by Broad Ethnic Group for more details.

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Cancer mortality

There are around 167,000 cancer deaths in the UK every year, that's nearly 460 every day (2017-2019).
In females in the UK, there are around 78,000 cancer deaths every year (2017-2019).
In males in the UK, there are around 89,200 cancer deaths every year (2017-2019).
Every four minutes someone in the UK dies from cancer (2017-2019).
Lung, bowel, breast and prostate cancers together accounted for almost half (45%) of all cancer deaths in the UK in 2017-2019.
Around a fifth of all cancer deaths are from lung cancer.
Mortality rates for all cancers combined in the UK are highest in people aged 90+ (2016-2018).
Each year more than half (54%) of all cancer deaths in the UK are in people aged 75 and over (2016-2018).

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Cancer survival

Half (50%) of people diagnosed with cancer in England and Wales survive their disease for ten years or more (2010-11).
Cancer survival is higher in women than men.
Cancer survival is improving and has doubled in the last 50 years in the UK
Cancer survival is generally higher in people diagnosed aged under 40 years old, with the exception of breast, bowel and prostate cancers, where survival is highest in middle age.

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Cancer risk

Nearly 1 in 2 people born in the UK in 1961 will be diagnosed with some form of cancer during their lifetime.
A person’s risk of developing cancer depends on many factors, including age, genetics, and exposure to risk factors.
Around 4 in 10 UK cancer cases every year could be prevented, that’s more than 135,000 every year (2015).
Nearly 112,000 England cases, around 13,000 Scotland cancer cases, around 7,200 Wales cancer cases, and around 3,500 Northern Ireland cancer cases every year could be prevented (2015).
Smoking is the largest cause of cancer in the UK (2015), accounting for 14% of all cancer cases (2023).
11.9% (more than 1 in 10) UK adults currently smoke cigarettes, that’s around 6 million people.
Cigarette smoking prevalence among adults in Great Britain has been decreasing for decades.
Cigarette smoking in adults in the UK is more common in more deprived groups.

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Cancer screening and diagnosis

Almost half (45.5%) of all cancer cases were diagnosed at stage 3 & 4 (out of those with a known stage at diagnosis) in England in 2018 – that’s more than 118,000 cases.
Almost two-thirds (63.2%) of persons aged 50-74 were screened for bowel cancer with FIT within 6 months of invitation in Scotland in 2019/20.
Bowel screening uptake within 6 months of invitation has increased slightly in all UK nations in recent years.
Around 7 in 10 (69.1%) of women aged 50-70 were screened for breast cancer within 6 months of invitation in Wales in 2018/19.
Breast screening uptake within 6 months of invitation has fallen slightly in England in recent years.
More than 7 in 10 (72.3%) of eligible people aged 25-64 were screened for cervical cancer within the previous 3.5 years (25-49) or 5 years (50-64) in Northern Ireland in 2017/18.
Age-appropriate cervical screening coverage has fallen slightly in England and Scotland in recent years.
Almost 4 in 10 (37.8%) of all cancer cases were diagnosed through an urgent suspected cancer referral (two-week wait) in England in 2016.
Almost 6 in 10 (58%) of all cancer cases diagnosed through an emergency route were at the latest stage, compared with around 2 in 10 (22%) of cases diagnosed though an urgent suspected cancer referral (two-week wait) in England in 2015-16.

See our new Early Diagnosis Data Hub for similar statistics for other UK nations

See our COVID and cancer key stats for the most up-to-date statistics on early diagnosis and other metrics.

See our Treatment Data Hub which gathers information and statistics across a number of cancer treatment measures, including proportions of treatments given over time and detailed data on radiotherapy delivery. You can also ”view overviews of many national cancer site audits, split by site and country.

About this data

The latest data is used where possible. Source years, coding and counting information are specified in each section.

Find out why these are the latest statistics available.

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