Bladder cancer statistics - Key Facts

• Bladder cancer is the seventh most common cancer in the UK.
• Around 10,300 people were diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2008 in the UK, that’s around 28 people every day.
• Bladder cancer is the fourth most common cancer in UK men, with more than 7,400 new cases diagnosed in 2008.
• In the UK, bladder cancer is the 11th most common cancer in women, with almost 3,000 new cases diagnosed in 2008.
• There are more than twice as many cases of bladder cancer in men than in women.
• Around 8 in 10 cases of bladder cancer occur in people over the age of 65.
• Worldwide, an estimated 383,000 new cases of bladder cancer were diagnosed in 2008.

Read more in-depth UK bladder cancer incidence statistics.

section updated 12/01/12

• Bladder cancer survival rates have improved in the last 30 years. Around 57% of men and 47% of women with bladder cancer survive the disease for at least five years after diagnosis.
• Around half of patients diagnosed with bladder cancer are now likely to survive their disease for at least ten years. Forty years ago around a third would survive.
• Bladder cancer survival rates are higher for patients diagnosed at a younger age.

Read more in-depth UK bladder cancer survival statistics.

section updated 06/09/10

• Bladder cancer is the eighth most common cause of cancer death in the UK.
• Around 5,000 people died from bladder cancer in 2009 in the UK, that is around 96 people every week.
• Almost nine in ten deaths from bladder cancer are in people aged 65 and over.
• Since the early 1990s, bladder cancer death rates in the UK have decreased by around a third for men and by around a fifth for women.
• Worldwide an estimated 150,000 people died from bladder cancer in 2008.

Read more in-depth UK bladder cancer mortality

section updated 12/01/12

• Smoking is the major preventable risk factor for bladder cancer.
• Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) during childhood may increase the risk of bladder cancer.
• The risk of getting bladder cancer increases with age.
• Around 7% of male bladder cancer cases in the UK are linked to occupational exposure to certain chemicals - this proportion may be higher in countries with less regulated industrial processes.
• People with a first-degree relative who has been diagnosed with bladder cancer have a higher risk of developing the disease.
• High bladder cancer incidence rates in parts of Africa and the Middle East are caused by urinary schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease contracted from infected water which is endemic in these areas.

Read more in-depth bladder cancer risk factors.

section updated 12/01/12

*age-standardised to the European population 

section updated 12/01/12