Cancer Research UK : CancerStats Key Facts on Breast Cancer

CancerStats Key Facts on Breast Cancer

This page presents key breast cancer incidence, survival and mortality statistics, and the main risk factors for breast cancer. A table of the latest breast cancer statistics is also available.

You can download a PDF of the breast cancer key facts page.

The breast cancer statistics on these pages are designed for health professionals. If you are looking for information because you or someone you know has been affected by breast cancer , then the CancerHelp UK pages on breast cancer may be more useful and relevant. CancerHelp UK also includes a straightforward guide to understanding statistics.

How common is breast cancer?

Breast cancer is now the most common cancer in the UK.
In the UK in 2006 more than 45,500 women were diagnosed with breast cancer, that’s around 125 women a day.
Each year around 300 men in the UK are diagnosed with breast cancer.
Breast cancer incidence rates have increased by more than 50% over the last twenty-five years.
In the last ten years, female breast cancer incidence rates in the UK have increased by 6%.
8 in 10 breast cancers are diagnosed in women aged 50 and over.
In England the NHS breast screening programme diagnoses around 10,000 cases of breast cancer each year.
The NHS breast screening programme in England saves around 1,400 lives each year.
Worldwide, more than a million women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year.
The highest rates of breast cancer occur in Northern and Western Europe and North America and the lowest rates are in Northern, Eastern and Middle African countries and Asia.

Read more in-depth breast cancer incidence statistics.

How many people survive breast cancer?

More women are surviving breast cancer than ever before.
Breast cancer survival rates have been improving for more than twenty years.
In the 1970s around 5 out of 10 breast cancer patients survived beyond five years. Now it's 8 out of 10.
Breast cancer survival rates are significantly higher among women from the most affluent areas compared to women living in the most deprived areas.
Breast cancer survival rates are better the earlier the cancer is diagnosed.
Around 9 out of 10 of women diagnosed with stage I breast cancer survive beyond five years. This drops to around 1 out of 10 diagnosed with stage IV.

Read more in-depth breast cancer survival statistics.

How many people die from breast cancer?

Each year in the UK just under 12,000 women around 90 men die from breast cancer.

Chart showing decline in breast cancer mortality rates since 1971

Each year there are around 1,300 deaths from breast cancer in women under 50.
More than half of breast cancer deaths are women aged over 70.
Since peaking in the late 1980s breast cancer death rates have fallen by a third.
In the last ten years death rates for breast cancer have fallen by almost a fifth.
Breast cancer is now the second most common cause of death from cancer in women after lung.

Read more in-depth breast cancer mortality statistics.

What causes breast cancer?

Women with a mother, sister or daughter diagnosed with breast cancer have an 80% higher risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer themselves.
Risk increases with the number of first-degree relatives diagnosed with breast cancer, but even so, eight out of nine breast cancers occur in women without a family history of breast cancer.
Obesity increases risk of postmenopausal breast cancer by up to 30%.
Women using hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for five years or longer have a 35% increased risk of breast cancer.
Use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) causes approximately 2,000 cases of breast cancer in the UK each year.
The risk of breast cancer in current users of oral contraceptives is increased by around a quarter.
Drinking moderate amounts of alcohol increases the risk of breast cancer - as little as one alcoholic drink per day increases breast cancer risk by around 12%.
A more active lifestyle reduces breast cancer risk.

Read more in depth breast cancer risk factors.

Breast cancer - UK	Males	Females	Persons
Number of new cases (UK 2006)	314	45,508	45,822
Rate per 100,000 population*	0.9	121.0	63.8
Number of deaths (UK 2007)	92	11,990	12,082
Rate per 100,000 population*	0.2	26.7	14.6
Five-year survival rate (for patients diagnosed 2001-2003**, England & Wales)	-	80%	-