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CancerStats Key Facts on Lung Cancer and Smoking

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This page presents key lung cancer incidence, survival and mortality statistics, and the main risk factors for lung cancer. You can download a PDF of the CancerStats Key Facts on Lung Cancer and Smoking page.

How common is lung cancer?

• Lung cancer is the second most common cancer diagnosed in the UK.


• Each year more than 38,000 people are diagnosed with lung cancer in the UK, that’s more than 100 people every day.



• Lung cancer is the second most common cancer in men after prostate cancer, with 22,000 new cases diagnosed each year.


• Around 16,000 women are diagnosed with lung cancer in the UK, making it the third most common cancer in women after breast and bowel cancer.


• 8 in 10 lung cancer cases occur in people aged 60 and over.


• Rates of lung cancer in Scotland are among the highest in the world, reflecting their history of high smoking prevalence.


• In the 1950s, for every female case diagnosed there were 6 diagnosed in men. That ratio is now 5 female cases for every 7 male cases.


• Lung cancer rates for men peaked in the late 1970s and has decreased by more than 40% in the last thirty years, reflecting the decline in smoking rates for men since World War II.


• Female lung cancer rates increased slowly until the late 1980s and have since levelled off. The difference in lung cancer rates in men and women reflect the variation in past smoking behaviour.


• Lung cancer is the most common cancer in the world with 1.3 million people diagnosed every year.


• Worldwide, the highest rates of lung cancer in men are currently in the regions of Central and Eastern Europe, and for women in Northern America.


• The lowest lung cancer rates in the world for both men and women are in African and Asian countries but if current levels of smoking continue in countries like China this will soon change.

Read more in-depth lung cancer incidence statistics.

How many people survive lung cancer?

• Lung cancer survival rates are better the earlier the cancer is diagnosed.


• More than two-thirds of lung cancers are diagnosed at a late stage and so survival rates for these patients are lower.


• Overall, only 7% of lung cancer patients survive for at least five years after diagnosis.

Read more in-depth lung cancer survival statistics.

How many people die from lung cancer?

• Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death in the UK, accounting for 1 in 4 deaths.


• Each year more than 33,000 people die from lung cancer, that’s around 1 every 15 minutes.


• Three-quarters of people who die from lung cancer are aged 65 or over.


• Lung cancer death rates in men started falling in the early 1980s, whereas for women the rate has remained static since the late 1990’s.


• More than a quarter of a million people die from lung cancer each year in the European Union.

Read more in-depth lung cancer mortality statistics.

What causes lung cancer?

• The link between tobacco smoking and cancer was established more than 50 years ago.


• Smoking causes almost 90% of lung cancer cases.



• In the UK, on average a quarter of all adults aged 16 and over smoke cigarettes, that’s around 11 million people.


• Less than 1% of 11 and 12 year olds in England are smokers, but this rises to 20% by age 15.


• Stopping smoking before middle age avoids most of the risk of smoking-related lung cancer.


• Living with someone who smokes, or exposure to second-hand smoke at work, increases risk of lung cancer in non-smokers by about a quarter.


• It is estimated that in the UK, around 12,000 deaths each year are attributable to environmental tobacco smoke.


• Radon is a naturally occurring gas that increases risk of lung cancer, especially among smokers.


• A small proportion of lung cancer cases are caused by heavy exposure to industrial carcinogens and air pollutants, including diesel exhaust, asbestos, non-ferrous metals, silica, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides.

Read more in-depth lung cancer risk factors.

Why not browse through our other lung cancer sections...