Understanding Cancer Statistics

The simple versionExplain▾

Cancer has a major impact on society in the United States and across the world. Cancer statistics describe what happens in large groups of people and provide a picture in time of the burden of cancer on society.

Statistics tell us things such as how many people are diagnosed with and die from cancer each year, how many people are currently living after a cancer diagnosis, the average age at diagnosis, and how many people are still alive at a given time after diagnosis. They also tell us about differences among groups defined by age, sex, racial or ethnic group, geographic location, and other categories.

Statistics describe groups, not individuals — they paint the big picture of cancer's impact.

Why statistics matterExplain▾

Cancer statistics also help us see trends. By looking at cancer rates over time, we can track changes in the risk of developing and dying from specific cancers, as well as cancer overall.

Although statistical trends are usually not directly applicable to individual patients, they are essential for governments, policy makers, health professionals, and researchers to understand the impact of cancer on the population and to plan strategies. Statistical trends are also important for measuring the success of efforts to control and manage cancer.

The burden of cancer in the United StatesExplain▾

Some key figures on cancer in the United States:

• In 2025, an estimated 2,041,910 new cases of cancer were expected to be diagnosed in the United States, and 618,120 people were expected to die from the disease.
• The most common cancers, by estimated new cases in 2025, are breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung and bronchus cancer, colon and rectum cancer, melanoma of the skin, bladder cancer, and others.
• Prostate, lung, and colorectal cancers account for an estimated 48% of all cancers diagnosed in men in 2025. For women, breast, lung, and colorectal cancers account for an estimated 51% of new diagnoses.
• The rate of new cases of cancer (incidence) is 445.8 per 100,000 men and women per year (based on 2018–2022 cases).
• The cancer death rate (mortality) is 145.4 per 100,000 men and women per year (based on 2019–2023 deaths).
• As of January 2022, there were an estimated 18.1 million cancer survivors in the United States, projected to increase to 26 million by 2040.
• Approximately 38.9% of men and women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lifetimes (based on 2018–2021 data).
• In 2025, an estimated 14,690 children and adolescents ages 0 to 19 were expected to be diagnosed with cancer, and 1,650 to die of the disease.

The burden of cancer worldwideExplain▾

Cancer is among the leading causes of death worldwide. In 2022, there were almost 20 million new cases and 9.7 million cancer-related deaths worldwide. By 2050, the number of new cancer cases per year is expected to rise to 33 million and the number of deaths to 18.2 million.

Generally, cancer rates are highest in countries whose populations have the highest life expectancy, education level, and standard of living. But for some cancer types, such as cervical cancer, the reverse is true, and the rate is highest in countries whose populations rank low on these measures. These worldwide figures come from the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Reading trends carefullyExplain▾

The best indicator of progress against cancer is a change in age-adjusted mortality (death) rates, although other measures, such as quality of life, are also important.

Incidence matters too, but changes in incidence are not always simple to interpret. A rise in incidence can reflect a real increase in cases, such as when more exposure to a risk factor causes more cancer. In that case, deaths would likely rise too. On the other hand, incidence can rise because a new screening test finds many cancers that would not have caused a problem during someone's life (called overdiagnosis). In that case, incidence would go up but death rates would not change.

When death rates drop faster than incidence—or drop while incidence is rising—this may reflect better treatments.

Progress and remaining challengesExplain▾

In the United States, the overall cancer death rate has declined since the early 1990s. The most recent Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, released in April 2025, showed that overall cancer death rates decreased by:

• 1.7% per year among men from 2018 to 2022
• 1.3% per year among women from 2018 to 2022
• 1.5% per year among children ages 0–14 from 2001 to 2022

Although death rates for many individual cancer types have also declined, rates for a few cancers have not changed or even increased. As the overall death rate has fallen, the number of survivors has grown. These trends show progress, but much work remains. Rates of smoking, a major cause of cancer, have declined, but rates of other risk factors, such as obesity, have increased. The U.S. population is also aging, and cancer rates increase with age.

Where the numbers come fromExplain▾

The National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program collects and publishes cancer incidence and survival data from population-based cancer registries that cover approximately 48% of the U.S. population.

The Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer provides a yearly update of cancer incidence, mortality, and trends in the United States. It is jointly authored by experts from the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Cancer Society, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries.

Statistics track how the whole country is doing against cancer — and lately, the overall trend has been improving.