America is making progress in the war on cancer. And it can’t come fast enough.
The CDC reports that cancer is the second-leading cause of death for Americans, trailing only heart disease.i
The good news: Cancer mortality in the United States is dropping.
Lung cancer death rates fell 58% for men from 1990 to 2020, and 36% for women from 2002 to 2020.ii
Colon cancer mortality rates have fallen 55% for men since 1980 and 61% for women since 1969.iii
Improvements in detection and treatment have caused breast cancer death rates to drop 43% since 1989.iv
Survival rates are now at 94% for melanoma, 97% for prostate cancer, and 98% for thyroid cancer.v
Here’s how far we’ve come: In 1970, the number of people who were still alive five years after a cancer diagnosis was 49%. By 2018, it was 68%.vi
Survival rates for childhood cancer have risen from 58% to 85% in that same period.vii
All told, the cancer death rate fell 33% from 1991 to 2020. Had it stayed the same, about 3.8 million more people would have died of the disease.viii
The even better news: Researchers estimate that, if current trends continue, cancer death rates will decline another 44% in the next 25 years.ix
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- Cancer mortality has dropped for breast, colon, lung, and other common cancers.
- The five-year survival rate for all cancers rose from 49% in 1970 to 68% by 2018.
- The cancer death rate fell 33% from 1991 to 2020, the equivalent of 3.8 million lives saved.
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