Cancer incidence for all cancers combined

Cases

New cases of cancer each year, 2017-2019 average, UK.

 

Higher in men

Incidence rate is higher in males than in females, 2017-2019 , UK.

 

Trend over time

Change in cancer incidence rates since the early 1990s, UK

 

48% of cancer cases in the UK are in females, and 52% are in males. [1-4]

All cancers combined incidence rates (European age-standardised (AS) rate Open a glossary item) for persons are significantly higher than the UK average in Scotland and are similar to the UK average in all other UK constituent countries.

All Cancers Excluding Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer (C00-C97 Excl. C44), 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 154,872 17,142 9,352 4,984 186,351
Crude Rate 547.2 614.1 587.6 521.5 553.9
AS Rate 550.9 590.5 543.8 557.1 554.2
AS Rate - 95% LCL 549.3 585.4 537.5 548.2 552.7
AS Rate - 95% UCL 552.5 595.6 550.2 566.0 555.6
Male Cases 166,821 16,721 10,494 5,091 199,127
Crude Rate 603.1 630.8 678.2 549.6 607.4
AS Rate 686.0 691.8 691.4 676.7 686.5
AS Rate - 95% LCL 684.1 685.7 683.7 666.0 684.7
AS Rate - 95% UCL 687.9 697.8 699.0 687.4 688.2
Persons Cases 321,693 33,863 19,847 10,075 385,477
Crude Rate 574.9 622.2 632.3 535.3 580.3
AS Rate 609.6 631.9 609.3 607.5 611.5
AS Rate - 95% LCL 608.4 628.0 604.4 600.6 610.4
AS Rate - 95% UCL 610.8 635.8 614.2 614.3 612.6

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 C00-C97 Excl. C44.

The ICD codes for all cancers combined are ICD-10 C00-C97 excluding C44 which includes all malignant neoplasms excluding non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC). NMSC is often excluded from cancer incidence statistics.

Last reviewed:

All cancers excluding non-melanoma skin cancer European age-standardised (AS) Open a glossary item incidence rates for females and males combined increased by 13% in the UK between 1993-1995 and 2017-2019.[1-4] The increase was larger in females than in males.

For females, all cancers excluding non-melanoma skin cancer AS incidence rates in the UK increased by 17% between 1993-1995 and 2017-2019. For males, all cancers excluding non-melanoma skin cancer AS incidence rates in the UK increased by 4% between 1993-1995 and 2017-2019.

Over the last decade in the UK (between 2007-2009 and 2017-2019), all cancers excluding non-melanoma skin cancer AS incidence rates for females and males combined increased by 3%. [1-4] In females AS incidence rates increased by 4%, and in males rates remained stable.

All Cancers Excluding Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer (ICD-10 C00-C97 Excl. C44), European Age-Standardised Incidence Rates, Persons Population, 1993 to 2019

All cancers excluding non-melanoma skin cancer incidence rates have increased overall in all broad age groups in females and males combined in the UK since the early 1990s.[1-4] Rates in 0-24s have increased by 16%, in 25-49s have increased by 24%, in 50-74s have increased by 14% and in 75+s have increased by 10%.

All Cancers Excluding Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer (ICD-10 C00-C97 Excl. C44), European Age-Standardised Incidence Rates per 100,000 Persons Population, By Age, UK, 1993-2019

For 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.

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 C00-97 Excl C44.

Last reviewed:

The number of new all cancers combined cases on average each year in the UK is projected to rise from around 420,000 cases in 2023-2025 to around 506,000 cases in 2038-2040.[1]

All cancers combined incidence rates are projected to rise by 2% in the UK between 2023-2025 and 2038-2040, to 625 cases per 100,000 people on average each year by 2038-2040.[1] This includes a similar increase for males and females.

For females, all cancers combined European age standardised (AS) incidence rates Open a glossary item in the UK are projected to rise by 1% between 2023-2025 and 2038-2040, to 569 cases per 100,000 per year by 2038-2040.[1] For males, AS rates are projected to rise by 3% between 2023-2025 and 2038-2040, to 693 cases per 100,000 per year by 2038-2040.[1]

All Cancers Combined (Excluding Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer: ICD-10 C00-C97 excluding C44), 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 all cancers combined

Projections of incidence by cancer type

Cancer risk

Cancer mortality projections for all cancers combined

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 C00-C97 excluding C44.

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:

All cancers combined incidence rates (European age-standardised (AS) rates Open a glossary item) in England in females are 16% higher in the most deprived quintile compared with the least, and in males are 19% higher in the most deprived quintile compared with the least (2013-2017).[1]

It is estimated that there are around 16,800 more cases of all cancers combined each year in England than there would be if every deprivation quintile had the same age-specific crude incidence rates as the least deprived quintile. Around 7,100 of these cases are in females, and around 9,800 in males.

In the UK, it is estimated that there are around 21,900 more cases of all cancers combined each year than there would be if every deprivation quintile had the same incidence rates as the least deprived quintile.[1,2,3,4]

In the text above, males and females’ excess cases do not sum to persons excess cases due to rounding
 

All Cancers Excluding Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer (C00-C97 Excl. C44), Estimated Average Number of Excess Cases per Year and European Age-Standardised Incidence Rates per 100,000 Population, by Deprivation Quintile, England, 2013-2017

See also

Data table: Cancer incidence rates and excess cases by cancer type in England
Incidence by deprivation for all cancer types combined 

Data table: Excess cases by cancer type in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the UK

All cancers combined mortality by deprivation (not directly comparable with incidence by deprivation)

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.
  2. Information Services Division Scotland. Cancer Statistics. Available from: https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Cancer/Cancer-Statistics/
  3. Welsh Cancer Intelligence Surveillance Unit: Cancer Incidence in Wales, 2001-2017. Available from: https://phw.nhs.wales/services-and-teams/welsh-cancer-intelligence-and-surveillance-unit-wcisu/
  4. Northern Ireland Cancer Registry. Cancer Information. Available from: https://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/nicr/CancerInformation/official-statistics/ 

About this data

Data is for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland 2013-2017, ICD-10 C00-C97 Excl. C44.

Excess cases were calculated as the sum of cases observed, minus the sum of cases expected if every deprivation quintile had the same incidence rates (age-specific crude rates for England, age-standardised rates all ages combined for Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) as the least deprived quintile.

Last reviewed:

An estimated 2,273,200 people who had previously been diagnosed with cancer were alive in the UK at the end of 2013.[1]

Among specific cancer types, female breast cancer has the highest prevalence, because it has high incidence and survival.

See also

Cancer incidence for all cancers combined in the UK

Cancer mortality for all cancers combined in the UK

Cancer survival for all cancers combined in the UK

What is prevalence?

References

  1. Macmillan Cancer Support and National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service. UK complete cancer prevalence for 2013 workbook. London: NCRAS; 2016.

About this data

Data is for: All UK patients who had been diagnosed with cancer at any time before 31st December 2013, ICD-10 C00-C97 excluding C44

Last reviewed:

The UK incidence rate for all cancers combined (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) is higher than most of the countries in Europe (rank 10 of 40), it is estimated.[1]. The four most common types of cancer in the UK are the same as for Europe as a whole (female breast, bowel (including anus), prostate and lung).

All Cancers Excluding Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer (C00-C97 Excl. C44), New Cases, World Age-Standardised (AS) Incidence Rates per 100,000 Population, UK compared to Europe, 2020

See also

Visit the Global Cancer Observatory for an interactive web-based platform to explore the global cancer statistics.

International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership (ICBP)

References

  1. International Agency for Research on Cancer, GLOBOCAN 2020 accessed via Global Cancer Observatory. Accessed February 2023.

About this data

Data is for: worldwide, 2020.

Some common cancers are defined using slightly different ICD codes in this section than used for UK data.

See the full details of data and methods.

Last reviewed:

The UK incidence rate for all cancers combined (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) is higher than most other countries in the world (rank 13 of 185), it is estimated[1] The four most common types of cancer in the UK are the same as those for the world as a whole.

All Cancers Excluding Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer (C00-C97 Excl. C44), New Cases, World Age-Standardised (AS) Incidence Rates per 100,000 Population, UK compared to Worldwide, 2020

See also

Visit the Global Cancer Observatory for an interactive web-based platform to explore the global cancer statistics.

International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership (ICBP)

References

  1. International Agency for Research on Cancer, GLOBOCAN 2020 accessed via Global Cancer Observatory. Accessed February 2023.

About this data

Data is for: worldwide, 2020.

Some common cancers are defined using slightly different ICD codes in this section than used for UK data.

See the full details of data and methods.

Last reviewed:

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

Citation

You are welcome to reuse this Cancer Research UK content for your own work.
Credit us as authors by referencing Cancer Research UK as the primary source. Suggested styles are:

Web content: Cancer Research UK, full URL of the page, Accessed [month] [year].
Publications: Cancer Research UK ([year of publication]), Name of publication, Cancer Research UK.
Graphics (when reused unaltered): Credit: Cancer Research UK.
Graphics (when recreated with differences): Based on a graphic created by Cancer Research UK.

When Cancer Research UK material is used for commercial reasons, we encourage a donation to our life-saving research.
Send a cheque payable to Cancer Research UK to: Cancer Research UK, 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ or

Donate Online 

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.