There are around 2,000 new cancer cases in children every year; that’s more than 5 every day (2019, 2021-2022). Children's cancers incidence rates in the UK are highest in the under-fives age group, with more than 4 in 10 (43%) of all new cancer cases being diagnosed in this age group (2019, 2021-2022).
Our data hubs below offer an in-depth breakdown of the most up to date cancer statistics.
*These statistics are aimed at supporting health professionals, academics, researchers and media. If you are a patient or carer, you may want to visit our public facing webpages.
There are around 2,000 new cancer cases in children every year in the UK, with around 920 new cases in girls and around 1,100 new cases in boys every year (2019, 2021-2022).
Explore more detailed gender stats on our data hub for Children's cancer
Children's cancer incidence rates have increased by around a tenth (9%) in the UK since the early 2000s and rates have increased by more than a twentieth (7%) in the last decade (2019, 2021-2022).
Explore more detailed trends stats on our data hub for Children's cancer
View our latest cancer statistics including key stats, in-depth explanations and raw data on cancer incidence, mortality, survival, risk, and diagnosis and treatment.
View full A-Z cancer statisticsFind information and explanations on terminology used for statistics and reporting of cancer, and the methods used to calculate some of our statistics.
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Find out more about the sources which are essential for our statistics
Steliarova-Foucher E, Stiller C, et al. International Classification of Childhood Cancer, third edition. Cancer 2005;103:1457-67.
Public Health England. Children, teenagers and young adults UK cancer statistics report 2021. Accessed March 2021.
