Bowel cancer incidence statistics

Bowel cancer is the 4th most common cancer in the UK, accounting for 11% of all new cancer cases (2017-2019).[1-4]

In females in the UK, bowel cancer is the 3rd most common cancer (11% of all new female cancer cases). In males in the UK, it is the 3rd most common cancer (12% of all new male cancer cases).

44% of bowel cancer cases in the UK are in females, and 56% are in males.

Bowel cancer incidence rates (European age-standardised (AS) rate Open a glossary item) for persons are significantly higher than the UK average in Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland and significantly lower than the UK average in England.

For bowel cancer, like most cancer types, differences between countries largely reflect risk factor prevalence in years past.

Bowel Cancer (C18-C20), Average Number of New Cases Per Year, Crude and European Age-Standardised (AS) Incidence Rates per 100,000 Population, UK, 2017-2019

  England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland UK
Female Cases 16,173 1,838 1,031 535 19,577
Crude Rate 57.1 65.9 64.8 55.9 58.2
AS Rate 56.6 62.7 58.2 60.0 57.3
AS Rate - 95% LCL 56.1 61.1 56.2 57.1 56.9
AS Rate - 95% UCL 57.1 64.4 60.3 62.9 57.8
Male Cases 20,293 2,178 1,357 658 24,486
Crude Rate 73.4 82.2 87.7 71.0 74.7
AS Rate 83.9 90.5 90.1 88.4 84.9
AS Rate - 95% LCL 83.3 88.3 87.4 84.5 84.3
AS Rate - 95% UCL 84.6 92.7 92.9 92.3 85.5
Persons Cases 36,466 4,017 2,388 1,192 44,063
Crude Rate 65.2 73.8 76.1 63.4 66.3
AS Rate 69.1 75.1 72.8 72.8 69.9
AS Rate - 95% LCL 68.7 73.8 71.2 70.4 69.6
AS Rate - 95% UCL 69.6 76.5 74.5 75.2 70.3
95% LCL and 95% UCL are the 95% lower and upper confidence limits around the AS Rate Open a glossary item

References

  1. England data were provided by the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS), part of the National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) in NHS England, on request through the Office for Data Release, January 2023. Similar data can be found here: https://www.cancerdata.nhs.uk/ 

  2.  Northern Ireland data were provided by the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry (NICR) on request, October 2021. Similar data can be found here:http://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/nicr/. 

  3. Welsh data were published by the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit (WCISU), Health Intelligence Division, Public Health Wales https://phw.nhs.wales/services-and-teams/welsh-cancer-intelligence-and-surveillance-unit-wcisu/cancer-reporting-tool-official-statistics/ June 2022. 

  4. Scotland data were provided by the Scottish Cancer Registry, Public Health Scotland (PHS) on request, May 2021. Similar data can be found here: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/show-all-releases?id=20468

About this data

Data is for UK, 2017-2019, ICD-10 C18-C20.

Last reviewed:

In the UK in 2017-2019, on average each year more than 4 in 10 new cases (43%) were in people aged 75 and over.[1-4]

Age-specific incidence rates rise gradually from around age 45-49, more steeply for males than females, and drop in the oldest age groups. The highest rates are in the 85 to 89 age group for females and males.

Incidence rates are significantly lower for females than males in a number of (mainly older) age groups. The gap is widest at age 60 to 64, when the age-specific incidence rate is 1.7 times lower for females than males.

Bowel Cancer (C18-C20), Average Number of New Cases per Year and Age-Specific Incidence Rates per 100,000 Population, UK, 2017-2019

For bowel cancer, like most cancer types, incidence increases with age. The impact of routine screening on the age profile of bowel cancer is hard to discern, as bowel screening aims both to prevent and to diagnose early; these effects on the incidence trend may cancel one another out. The overall increase in incidence with age largely reflects cell DNA damage accumulating over time. Damage can result from biological processes or from exposure to risk factors. A drop or plateau in incidence in the oldest age groups often indicates reduced diagnostic activity perhaps due to general ill health.

See also

Bowel cancer mortality statistics by age

Bowel cancer survival statistics by age

Cancer incidence statistics by age for all cancers

References

  1. Data were provided by the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (part of Public Health England), on request through the Office for Data Release, July 2021. Similar data can be found here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/cancerregistrationstatisticsengland/previousReleases
  2. Data were provided by ISD Scotland on request, April 2020. Similar data can be found here: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Cancer/Publications.
  3. Data were published by the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit, Health Intelligence Division, Public Health Wales https://phw.nhs.wales/services-and-teams/welsh-cancer-intelligence-and-surveillance-unit-wcisu/cancer-incidence-in-wales-2002-2018/, March 2021.
  4. Data were provided by the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry on request, May 2020. Similar data can be found here: http://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/nicr/.

About this data

Data is for UK, 2017-2019, ICD-10 C18-C20.

Last reviewed:

Bowel cancer European age-standardised (AS) Open a glossary item incidence rates for females and males combined remained stable in the UK between 1993-1995 and 2017-2019.[1-4] The change varied markedly between sexes.

For females, bowel cancer AS incidence rates in the UK remained stable between 1993-1995 and 2017-2019. For males, bowel cancer AS incidence rates in the UK decreased by 3% between 1993-1995 and 2017-2019.

Over the last decade in the UK (between 2007-2009 and 2017-2019), bowel cancer AS incidence rates for females and males combined decreased by 6%. In females AS incidence rates decreased by 4%, and in males rates decreased by 10%.

Bowel Cancer (ICD-10 C18-C20), European Age-Standardised Incidence Rates, Persons Population, 1993 to 2019

Bowel cancer incidence rates have varied between age groups in females and males combined in the UK since the early 1990s.[1-4] Rates in 25-49s have increased by 52%, in 50-59s have remained stable, in 60-74s have decreased by 5%, in 75-79s have remained stable and in 80+s have remained stable.

Bowel Cancer (ICD-10 C18-C20), European Age-Standardised Incidence Rates per 100,000 Persons Population, By Age, UK, 1993-2019

For bowel cancer, like most cancer types, incidence trends largely reflect changing prevalence of risk factors and improvements in diagnosis and data recording. Recent incidence trends are influenced by risk factor prevalence in years past, and trends by age group reflect risk factor exposure in birth cohorts.The introduction of the bowel screening programmes in the mid-2000s probably also plays a part.

References

  1. England data were provided by the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS), part of the National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) in NHS England, on request through the Office for Data Release, January 2023. Similar data can be found here: https://www.cancerdata.nhs.uk/ 

  2.  Northern Ireland data were provided by the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry (NICR) on request, October 2021. Similar data can be found here:http://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/nicr/. 

  3. Welsh data were published by the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit (WCISU), Health Intelligence Division, Public Health Wales https://phw.nhs.wales/services-and-teams/welsh-cancer-intelligence-and-surveillance-unit-wcisu/cancer-reporting-tool-official-statistics/ June 2022. 

  4. Scotland data were provided by the Scottish Cancer Registry, Public Health Scotland (PHS) on request, May 2021. Similar data can be found here: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/show-all-releases?id=20468

About this data

Data is for UK, 1993-2019, ICD-10 C18-C20.

Last reviewed:

The most common specific location for bowel cancers in the UK is the rectum (2016-2018).[1-4] Variation of incidence by anatomical site may reflect the physical size of each site, and differences in risk factor exposure by site, among other factors.

Download this data

Cases and percentages may not sum due to rounding

See also

Find out more about the counting and coding of this data

Bowel cancer incidence by sex statistics

References

  1. Data were provided by the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (part of Public Health England), on request through the Office for Data Release, July 2021. Similar data can be found here: https://www.ons.gov.uk
  2. Data were provided by ISD Scotland on request, April 2020. Similar data can be found here: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Cancer/Publications.
  3. Data were published by the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit, Health Intelligence Division, Public Health Wales, March 2021. https://phw.nhs.wales/services-and-teams/welsh-cancer-intelligence-and-surveillance-unit-wcisu/cancer-incidence-in-wales-2002-2018/.
  4. Data were provided by the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry on request, June 2020. Similar data can be found here: http://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/nicr/

About this data

Data is for UK, 2016-2018, ICD-10 C18-C20. For some cases the specific location of the cancer is not recorded, this may be due to clinical or data recording factors.

Last reviewed:

The number of new bowel cancer cases on average each year in the UK is projected to rise from around 42,800 cases in 2023-2025 to around 47,700 cases in 2038-2040.[1]

Bowel cancer incidence rates are projected to fall by 8% in the UK between 2023-2025 and 2038-2040, to 57 cases per 100,000 people on average each year by 2038-2040.[1] This includes a similar decrease for males and females.

For females, bowel cancer European age standardised (AS) Open a glossary item incidence rates in the UK are projected to fall by 4% between 2023-2025 and 2038-2040, to 51 cases per 100,000 per year by 2038-2040.[1] For males, AS rates are projected to fall by 11% between 2023-2025 and 2038-2040, to 65 cases per 100,000 per year by 2038-2040.[1]

Bowel cancer (C18-C20), Observed and Projected Age-Standardised Incidence Rates, by Sex, UK, 1993-2040

Download the data table (xlsx)

See also

Find out how these projections were calculated

Incidence trends over time for bowel cancer

Projections of incidence for all cancers combined

Bowel cancer risk

Download the projections data table

References

Calculated by the Cancer Intelligence Team at Cancer Research UK, February 2023. Age-period-cohort modelling approach described here, using 2020-based population projections (Office for National Statistics) and observed cancer incidence (1975-2018 for England, Scotland and Wales, 1993-2018 for Northern Ireland).

About this data

Projections are based on incidence data from 1975-2018 (England, Scotland and Wales) and 1993-2018 (Northern Ireland); the above figure presents all UK data from 1993-2018 (observed) and 2019-2040 (projected). Number of new cases and age-standardised rates are presented as annual averages for each 3-year rolling period. ICD-10 codes C18-C20.

Projections are based on observed incidence rates and therefore implicitly include changes in cancer risk factors and diagnosis. Confidence intervals are not calculated for the projected figures. Projections are by their nature uncertain because unexpected events in future could change the trend. It is not sensible to calculate a boundary of uncertainty around these already uncertain point estimates. Changes are described as 'increase' or 'decrease' if there is any difference between the point estimates.

More on projections methodology

Last reviewed:

Bowel cancer incidence rates (European age-standardised (AS) rates Open a glossary item) in England in females are similar in the most deprived quintile compared with the least, and in males are 9% higher in the most deprived quintile compared with the least (2013-2017).[1]

It is estimated that there are around 630 more cases of bowel cancer each year in males in England than there would be if every deprivation quintile had the same age-specific crude incidence rates as the least deprived quintile.

Bowel Cancer (C18-C20), Estimated Average Number of Excess Cases per Year and European Age-Standardised Incidence Rates per 100,000 Population, by Deprivation Quintile, England, 2013-2017

No data are shown for females as the difference in age-standardised incidence rates between most and least deprived quintiles is not significant for females.

See also

Data table: Cancer incidence rates and excess cases by cancer type in England

Incidence by deprivation for all cancer types combined

Bowel cancer mortality by deprivation  (not directly comparable with incidence by deprivation)

Cancer incidence by deprivation for Scotland

Cancer incidence by deprivation for Wales

Cancer incidence by deprivation for Northern Ireland

References

  1. Calculated by the Cancer Intelligence Team at Cancer Research UK, April 2020. Based on method reported in National Cancer Intelligence Network Cancer by Deprivation in England Incidence, 1996-2010 Mortality, 1997-2011 . Using cancer incidence data 2013-2017 (Public Health England) and population data 2013-2017 (Office for National Statistics) by Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2015 income domain quintile, cancer type, sex, and five-year age band.

About this data

Data is for England, 2013-2017, ICD-10 C21.

Last reviewed:

Cancer stats explained

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Cancer stats explained

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