Cervical cancer statistics - Key Facts

• Cervical cancer is the twelfth most common cancer in women in the UK and the third most common gynaecological cancer after uterus (womb) and ovary.
• There were 2,938 new cases of cervical cancer diagnosed in the UK in 2008, that is around 57 women every week.
• More than half of all new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed in women under 50 years, that’s around 1,730 cases each year.
• Overall, cervical cancer incidence rates in Britain have almost halved in the last 20 years.
• Cervical cancer incidence rates in the UK have fallen by more than10% over the last decade.
• Cervical cancer accounts for around one in ten cancers diagnosed in women worldwide.
• Worldwide, more than half a million women were diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2008

Read more in-depth cervical cancer incidence statistics.

• Around two thirds of women with cervical cancer survive their disease for five years or more.
• Cervical cancer survival is higher in women diagnosed at a younger age. Women under 40 years of age have survival rates of more than 85%.

Read more in-depth cervical cancer survival statistics.

• Around 960 women died from cervical cancer in 2009 in the UK.
• In the UK, it is rare for young women to die from cervical cancer; around 80% of all cervical cancer deaths occur in women aged 45 and over.
• Cervical cancer death rates have fallen by around two-thirds in the last 30 years.
• Worldwide, more than 275,000 women died from cervical cancer in 2008
• Worldwide, cervical cancer accounts for almost 1 in ten female cancer deaths.

Read more in-depth cervical cancer mortality statistics.

• Infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV) is the main risk factor and a necessary cause of cervical cancer.
• Women with HIV/AIDS are at significantly increased risk of cervical cancer.
• Infection with the sexually transmitted diseases, herpes simplex virus-2 or Chlamydia trachomatis, may increase risk of cervical cancer.
• Women with a sister or mother who has had cervical cancer are at increased risk of developing it themselves.
• Smoking increases risk of squamous cell cervical cancer.
• Long term use of the oral contraceptive pill increases the risk of cervical cancer.

Read more in-depth cervical cancer risk factors.

• The NHS Cervical Screening Programme was set up in 1988 by the Department of Health.
• Cervical screening can prevent around 45% of cervical cancer cases in women in their 30s, rising with age to 75% in women in their 50s and 60s, who attend regularly.
• HPV vaccination in schools was introduced into the national immunisation programme in 2008, for girls aged 12-13.

Read more in-depth cervical cancer screening statistics.

*age-standardised to the European population