Cancer mortality by age - UK statistics

This page present cancer mortality statistics by age at death for all cancers combined.

The distribution of deaths from cancer, by age and sex, is shown in Figure 2.11-3. The majority of deaths from cancer occur in the elderly. Around three quarters of cancer deaths (76%) occur in people aged 65 years and over. The death rates rise with increasing age.

The number of deaths and mortality rate for all malignant neoplasms by age and sex in the UK

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Although there is a higher number of cancer deaths in the over 65s, cancer causes a greater proportion of deaths in younger people. Cancer caused a quarter of deaths (25%) in the over 65s in the UK in 2007, whereas cancer was responsible for more than a third (36%) of all deaths in the under 65s. In females under the age of 65 cancer causes 46% of deaths, while in males it is only 30%.

In people under the age of 75 years in the UK in 2007, deaths from cancer (76,208 deaths) continued to outnumber deaths from diseases of the circulatory system (ICD-10 codes I00-I99, which includes heart disease and stroke) and diseases of the respiratory system (ICD-10 J00-J99) combined (respectively 51,422 and 17,290 deaths; combined: 68,712). 1-3

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References for cancer mortality by age

  1.  Office for National Statistics, Mortality Statistics: Deaths registered in 2007 2009
  2.  GRO for Scotland Registrar General's Annual Report, 2007. 2009
  3.  Northern Ireland Cancer Registry General Register's Office for Northern Ireland 2009