Cancer survival statistics

Survival

Survive cancer for 10 or more years, 2010-11, England and Wales

Improvement

Cancer survival in the UK has doubled in the last 50 years

Variation

There is huge variation in survival between cancer types

  • Half (50%) of people diagnosed with cancer in England and Wales survive their disease for ten years or more (2010-11).
  • Cancer survival is higher in women than men.
  • Cancer survival is improving and has doubled in the last 50 years in the UK
  • Five-year relative survival for cancer in men is below the European average in England, Wales and Scotland.
  • Five-year relative survival for cancer in women is below the European average in England, Wales and Scotland.

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

  • Survival varies between cancer types, ranging from 98% for testicular cancer to just 1% for pancreatic cancer.
  • Many of the most commonly diagnosed cancers have ten-year survival of 50% or more (2010-11).
  • More than 80% of people diagnosed with cancer types which are easier to diagnose and/or treat survive their cancer for ten years or more (2010-11).
  • Less than 20% of people diagnosed with cancer types which are difficult to diagnose and/or treat survive their cancer for ten years or more (2010-11).

See more in-depth cancer survival statistics for common cancers

  • Cancer survival is generally higher in people diagnosed aged under 40 years old, with the exception of breast, bowel and prostate cancers, where survival is highest in middle age.

See more in-depth cancer survival statistics by age

  • Cancer survival is generally lower in people living in more deprived areas.

See more in-depth cancer survival statistics by socio-economic group

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Local Cancer Statistics

Local level cancer statistics; search profiles by area, constituency or health board in the UK.

Go to local cancer 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

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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.