Cancer mortality statistics

Deaths

Deaths from cancer, 2017-2019, UK.

Common cancers

Almost half of all cancer deaths are lung, bowel, breast or prostate cancer, 2018, UK

Proportion of UK deaths

Cancer causes more than one in four of all deaths, 2020, UK

  • 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).
  • Since the early 1970s, mortality rates for all cancers combined have decreased by around a fifth (19%) in the UK. Rates in females have decreased by around a seventh (13%), and rates in males have decreased by more than a quarter (27%) (2017-2019).
  • Over the last decade, mortality rates for all cancers combined have decreased by a tenth (10%) in the UK. Rates in females have decreased by around a tenth (9%), and rates in males have decreased by more than a tenth (12%) (2017-2019).
  • An estimated 832,000 cancer deaths had been avoided in the UK by 2016 because mortality rates dropped from their peak levels in the 1980s.
  • All cancers combined mortality rates are projected to fall by 6% in the UK between 2023-2025 and 2038-2040.
  • There could be around around 208,000 deaths of all cancers combined every year in the UK by 2038-2040, projections suggest.
  • Cancer causes more than one in four of all deaths in the UK (2019).
  • UK mortality is ranked lower than two-thirds of Europe.
  • UK mortality is ranked higher than two-thirds of the world.

See more in-depth cancer mortality statistics for all cancers combined

  • 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.
  • Among the 20 most common causes of cancer death, liver cancer has shown the fastest increase in mortality in both females and males over the past decade in the UK.
  • Among the 20 most common causes of cancer death, stomach cancer has shown the fastest decrease in mortality in both females and males over the past decade in the UK.
  • Mortality rates are projected to fall for most types of cancer in the UK between 2023-2025 and 2038-2040.
  • Among cancer types where rates are projected to fall in the UK between 2023-2025 and 2038-2040, the size of the decrease ranges from less than 1% (kidney cancer) to 29% (mesothelioma).
  • Among cancer types where rates are projected to rise in the UK between 2014 and 2035, the size of the increase ranges from less than 1% (small intestinal cancer) to 45% (anal cancer).

See more in-depth cancer mortality statistics for common cancers

  • 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).
  • The most common causes of cancer death vary considerably by age group; different cancer types tend to cause death in young people compared with older people.
  • Since the early 1970s, mortality rates for all cancer combined have decreased overall in most broad age groups in the UK (2016-2018). The decrease is largest in people aged 0-24 where rates have decreased by almost two thirds (63%)

See more in-depth cancer mortality statistics by age

  • Cancer deaths in England are more common in people living in the most deprived areas.
  • There are around 19,000 extra deaths from cancer, per year, in England because of socio-economic variation.

See more in-depth cancer mortality statistics by deprivation gradient

Devolved Nation Key Statistics

Interested in an overview for Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland?

Go to devolved nations overviews

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

Citation

You are welcome to reuse this Cancer Research UK content for your own work.
Credit us as authors by referencing Cancer Research UK as the primary source. Suggested styles are:

Web content: Cancer Research UK, full URL of the page, Accessed [month] [year].
Publications: Cancer Research UK ([year of publication]), Name of publication, Cancer Research UK.
Graphics (when reused unaltered): Credit: Cancer Research UK.
Graphics (when recreated with differences): Based on a graphic created by Cancer Research UK.

When Cancer Research UK material is used for commercial reasons, we encourage a donation to our life-saving research.
Send a cheque payable to Cancer Research UK to: Cancer Research UK, 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ or

Donate online

Join us on Twitter

Join the conversation and follow @CRUKHCPs for news, updates and opinion.

@CRUKHCPs

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.