Prevalence (numbers of cancer survivors) - UK

This page presents the latest estimated cancer prevalence, also known as the number of cancer survivors, for the UK. The cancer incidence section has statistics on the number of new cases of cancer diagnosed with cancer each year.

Whilst cancer incidence refers to the number of new cancer cases arising in a specified period of time, cancer prevalence refers to the number of people who have previously received a diagnosis of cancer and who are still alive at a given time point. Some of these patients will have been cured and others will not. Therefore prevalence reflects both the incidence of cancer and its associated survival pattern.

Overall cancer prevalence

In 2008, it was estimated that there are just over two million people living with or beyond cancer in the UK who had previously been diagnosed, and this is predicted to rise by more than 3% a year1. Prevalence figures are influenced by both incidence and survival. Thus, the most prevalent types of cancer are those with a relatively high incidence rate and a good prognosis. In the UK the most prevalent cancer in males is prostate cancer and in females it is breast cancer.

The latest analysis shows that at the end of 2006, there were over 200,000 prevalent cancer patients in the UK who were alive one year after their diagnosis. In total, there were 1.13 million cancer survivors in the UK who were alive up to 10 years from diagnosis at the end of 2006.2

These latest estimates are much higher than previous forecasts of cancer prevalence. This is mainly because incidence has been rising whilst the death rates have continued to fall, leading to better survival. This trend is expected to continue over the coming years as a result of a number of factors, including an ageing population, earlier detection of cancer and continued improvements in treatment.

The data analysed are for all malignant neoplasms diagnosed between 1997 and 2006, and registered by the eight cancer registries in England and the registries of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Table 7.1 shows one, five and ten year prevalence, by sex, for all cancers excluding non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC).

table showing overall cancer prevalence in the UK

Download this table (21KB)

Prevalence data for specific types of cancer can be found using the Types of cancer page. Where available, prevalence data will be on the Incidence pages.

section updated 20/04/11