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Thyroid cancer incidence statistics

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Thyroid cancer incidence by gender and UK country

Thyroid cancer accounts for 1% of all new cancer cases in the UK, with around 2,900 new cases in females and around 1,100 new cases in males every year (2017-2019).

View more detailed gender stats on our dashboard for Thyroid cancer

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Thyroid cancer incidence by age

Incidence rates for thyroid cancer are highest in people aged 70 to 74 in the UK, with almost 1 in 10 (8%) of all new thyroid cancer cases diagnosed in this age group (2017-2019).

View more detailed age stats on our dashboard for Thyroid cancer

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Thyroid cancer incidence trends over time

Thyroid cancer incidence rates have almost tripled (186%) in the UK since the early 1990s and rates have increased by more than three-fifths (62%) in the last decade (2017-2019).

View more detailed trends stats on our dashboard for Thyroid cancer

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Thyroid cancer incidence projections

Thyroid cancer incidence rates in the UK are projected to increase by 29% between 2023-2025 and 2038-2040, with around 6,600 new cases each year by 2038-2040.

View more detailed projections stats on our dashboard for Thyroid cancer

More thyroid cancer statistics

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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

References

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    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.