Children's cancers incidence statistics

Children’s cancers are classified into 12 broad diagnostic groups (each of which can be further subdivided) according to the International Classification of Childhood Cancer, Third Edition (ICCC-3).[1] There are UK statistics for 88 distinct diagnostic subgroups of children’s cancers.[2]

The most common groups of children’s cancers in the UK are leukaemias, myeloproliferative diseases, and myelodysplastic diseases (31% of cases), CNS and miscellaneous intracranial and intraspinal neoplasms (25% of cases), and lymphomas and reticuloendothelial neoplasms (10% of cases) (1997-2016).[2]

See also

See our new Children and Young People's Cancers Incidence and Survival Interactive Dashboard for data broken down by diagnostic group, UK nation, sex and age group

Cancer incidence statistics for common cancers in the UK

Cancer incidence and survival statistics by cancer type for children and young people

References

  1. Steliarova-Foucher E, Stiller C, et al. International Classification of Childhood Cancer, third edition. Cancer 2005;103:1457-67.
  2. Public Health England. Children, teenagers and young adults UK cancer statistics report 2021. Available from http://ncin.org.uk/cancer_type_and_topic_specific_work/cancer_type_specific_work/cancer_in_children_teenagers_and_young_adults/, accessed March 2021.

About this data

Data is for UK, 1997-2016, International Classification of Childhood Cancer, Third Edition (ICCC-3)

Last reviewed:

Around 25,500 people who had been diagnosed with cancer in childhood in the UK between 1997 and 2016, were still alive at the end of 2018.[1]

See also

Cancer incidence statistics for all cancers in the UK

What is prevalence?

References

  1. Public Health England. Children, teenagers and young adults UK cancer statistics report 2021. Available from http://ncin.org.uk/cancer_type_and_topic_specific_work/cancer_type_specific_work/cancer_in_children_teenagers_and_young_adults/, accessed March 2021.

About this data

Data is for UK, 1997-2016, International Classification of Childhood Cancer, Third Edition (ICCC-3)

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.