Trends in UK cancer mortality statistics
This page presents cancer mortality statistics on the mortality trends for all cancers combined, and the top four cancers: lung cancer, bowel cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer.
Mortality statistics for all cancers combined
Overall, mortality from cancer is decreasing despite increasing incidence. In the 30-year period between 1978 and 2007, the European age-standardised mortality rates for all malignant neoplasms fell by almost a fifth (19%) from 218 to 177 per 100,000 population. Figure 3.1 shows the incidence and mortality rate trend for all cancers combined. 1-3
Overall, the male cancer mortality rate has been consistently higher than the female cancer death rate, but has decreased more quickly: almost a quarter (24%) versus 11% respectively since 1971 ( Figure 3.2).
Over the past 10 years (1998-2007) the age-standardised mortality rates for all malignant neoplasms fell by 10% - around 13% for men and 8% for women. The rate decrease began in 1990 and since then it has fallen by 19% - 24% for males and 17% for females.
Mortality rates for the majority of cancer types have decreased in the past 10 years. Apart from female lung cancer, all of the four most common causes of cancer death - lung, bowel, breast and prostate cancers - have seen decreases in the last decade, with male lung cancer dropping by more than one fifth, and female breast cancer by 18%. The largest falls in mortality have been for stomach cancer, more than a third, and cervical cancer,around a third, between 1998 and 2007.
For the same period, the mortality rate has increased for some of the major cancers, particularly liver cancer, and male malignant melanoma, which has risen by around a fifth (+21%) in the past decade and uterus (womb) cancer (+9%) ( Figure 3.3).
Since the late 1970s there have been large increases in liver cancer mortality rates, where the rate has increased by 250%. The male skin cancer rate has more than doubled since 1978. Other notable cancer mortality increases over the same period include female lung cancer (31%) and male oesophageal cancer (47%). The largest decreases in cancer mortality since 1978 have been seen for testicular cancer, stomach cancer, Hodgkin disease and cervical cancer, all having decreased by around 65-80%.
Lung cancer
The overall lung cancer mortality rate has decreased by almost a third (-32%) since 1978. However, this fall has been largely influenced by the reduction in the male lung cancer mortality rate - the female rate has actually increased by considerably (+31%).
The age-standardised mortality rate for male lung cancer has decreased by almost third from 108 deaths per 100,000 men in 1978 to 52 deaths per 100,000 males in 2007. This is due to the decrease in tobacco consumption in the male population since the causal link between lung cancer and tobacco smoking was established in 1950. Smoking prevalence has heavily influenced lung cancer trends: as smoking rates have decreased, lung cancer rates have fallen - see our lung cancer and smoking section.
There are now more female deaths from lung cancer than from any other cancer, including breast cancer. The female lung cancer mortality rate has increased by 31% since 1978 from 24 per 100,000 to 31 per 100,000 women in 2007 - the female rate began to plateau in the late 1980s and since then the rate has stabilised at around 30 deaths per 100,000 women. The female mortality rate is therefore still lower than the male rate but Figure 3.4 shows rates from 1971 and the gradual convergence of the rates over time. The male:female ratio has decreased from approximately 4.5:1 in 1971 to four male deaths for every three female deaths in 2007.
The age-specific lung cancer mortality rate for women in their 60s has fallen by more than 10% in the last 15 years. However, since 1986 girls have had consistently higher rates of smoking than boys and in 2007 19% of 15-year old girls were regular smokers compared to 12% of boys and this may have an impact on future female lung cancer mortality rates. It is worth noting that the smoking rate in girls aged 15 has fallen below 20% for the first time in at least 25 years; please see our smoking section for more information.
Bowel cancer
Bowel (colorectal) cancer caused around 16,000 deaths in the UK in 2007: around two-thirds of bowel cancer deaths are from colon cancer.
Colorectal cancer mortality rates are substantially higher in men than in women - 22 per 100,000 males compared with 14 per 100,000 females in 2007. The majority of bowel cancer deaths occur in elderly people: 80% in people aged 65 and over and almost two-fifths in the over 80s.
Mortality rates from colorectal cancer are falling in the UK despite increasing incidence. Between 1998 and 2007, the age-standardised rate has fallen by 16% ( Figure 3.5).
Bowel cancer mortality rates started to decrease in 1988 and since then the male rate has fallen by 31% and the female rate by more than a third (36%).
Breast cancer
UK mortality rates for breast cancer have been falling since the early 1990s ( Figure 3.5), which is likely to be due to a combination of factors including earlier diagnosis and more effective treatment.
Despite increases in incidence, breast cancer mortality rates in the UK have fallen dramatically since 1989 when 15,625 women died from the disease compared with 11,990 in 2007.
More than half of all deaths (55%) from breast cancer are in women aged over 70 years. In younger women aged 35-54 years, breast cancer is the most common cause of all deaths from cancer accounting for 31% of all deaths. Breast cancer caused 92 deaths in men in the UK in 2007.
Prostate cancer
In 2007 there were 10,239 deaths in the UK from prostate cancer. Prostate cancer accounts for around 13% of male deaths from cancer in the UK and is the second most common cause of cancer death in men, after lung cancer. In older men aged 85 and over, prostate cancer is the most common cause of all deaths from cancer. Overall mortality from prostate cancer rose slightly up to the early 1990s but since then has decreased by 18%. However, when analysed by age group the trend shows an increase of 60% since the 1970s in men aged 85 and over. Mortality rates for prostate cancer remain at around 25 deaths per 100,000 males.
Reference for Cancer mortality trends
- Office for National Statistics, 2009 Mortality Statistics: Deaths registered in England & Wales, 2007.
- General Register Office for Scotland, 2009 Deaths Time Series Data, 1997-2007.
- Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, 2009 Registrar General Annual Report 2007
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