Cancer statistics in the UK

People dying from cancer.

Each year, around 167,000 people die from cancer in the UK, an average of 460 people every day. 

However, in comparison to incidence, the number of deaths from cancer in the UK have reported a less dramatic increase, rising by 7% over 10 years. 

Additionally, age-standardised rates of cancer mortality per 100,000 people have decreased by more than 8%, on average across UK nations, over the past 10 years (reference iii and data set i).

Cancer waiting times and the impact of COVID-19

The NHS is facing a huge challenge in relation to cancer services. For many years, published figures have shown that tens of thousands of people are waiting too long for a diagnosis or vital treatment across the UK.

Macmillan has calculated estimates of the numbers of people who may have experienced disruption in their cancer care due to COVID-19 by comparing the actual numbers of diagnoses and treatments to predicted values.

More than 50,000 people were thought to be ‘missing’ a cancer diagnosis (reference iv) by early 2021, with the number of people starting treatment for cancer in the UK between March 2020 and March 2021 being over 40,000 lower than expected (reference v). 

Since then, services have worked hard to catch up but the impact of the pandemic has only added to existing problems faced by UK health services. These problems are about meeting the needs of the cancer population, with cancer wait times longer than ever.

In England and Wales, 2022 marked the worst year on record for health services meeting national cancer waiting times targets. Our analyses of cancer waiting times are regularly updated and included in Macmillan’s press releases and statements.

For further information on NHS England’s Cancer Waiting Times, including an explanation of how they are measured and their performance, please read Macmillan’s Think. Improve. Change. blog post.

Other data is also available from NHS England. Correspondent datasets on cancer waiting times are published by Public Health Scotland, GOV.WALES and the Department of Health in Northern Ireland.

Following cancer and its treatment

Survival from cancer has increased considerably throughout past decades. Net survival was 50% at 1 year after diagnosis for patients diagnosed in 1971-72, while it was predicted that for patients diagnosed in 2010-11 the same value of 50% survival would apply 10 years after diagnosis (reference vi).

However, as outlined in the latest statistics from NHS Digital (now part of NHS England), there are some noticeable differences in age-standardised net survival rates between different cancer types and sexes.

• Melanoma of the skin recording the highest 1-year survival for both males (97.3%) and females (98.6%), as well as the highest 5-year survival for females (94.6%)
• Cancer of the testis presented the highest 5-year survival for males (93.5%)
• Pancreatic cancer recorded both the lowest 1-year (27.4% and 28.1%) and 5-year (8.4% and 8.2%) survival, for males and females respectively, in England (reference vii).

While it is clearly good news that more people with cancer are living longer, progress can be a double-edged sword. ‘Throwing Light on the Consequences of Cancer and its Treatment’ (and the accompanying lay summary report ‘Cured – But at What Cost?’) reveals another vital aspect of the changing cancer story.

We estimate around one in four (25%) people with cancer are living with the long-term consequences of cancer or its treatment (reference viii).

The cancer journey

Macmillan has identified stages along people’s cancer journey when experiences are commonly shared, with five key moments (diagnosis, treatment, recovery, living with treatable but not curable cancer and end of life) where there is a particularly high level of unmet need.

Holistic Needs Assessment (HNA)

The Holistic Needs Assessment (HNA or eHNA, in its electronic format) is a questionnaire to identify the concerns of people living with cancer at any stage of the cancer pathway. This allows for a conversation about their needs and to develop a Personalised Care and Support Plan, through their cancer journey.

In 2021, 44,000 electronic holistic needs assessments were carried out through Macmillan’s platform, which helped identify tens of thousands of concerns from people living with cancer. This was a 16% increase on 2020 (reference x). 

Find out more

Cancer Patient Experience Survey (CPES)

The Cancer Patient Experience Survey (CPES) is a survey to understand the experiences of people living with cancer. It is run by NHS England, and by Macmillan jointly with the Welsh government and Welsh Cancer network, Scottish government and the Public Health Agency, and Health and Social Care Board in Northern Ireland.

The most recent national surveys reported mostly positive results (on a scale of 0-10, where 10 is ‘very good’) with key areas for improvement.

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Cancer Quality of Life Survey

Conducted by NHS England and NHS Digital, the Cancer Quality of Life Survey is a national survey composed of two questionnaires. It is focused on general health and quality of life, completed by people with cancer around 18 months after their diagnosis and, for comparison, the general population, in England.

Results from the Cancer Quality of Life Survey, including questionnaire responses received up to 31st July 2022:

• highlighted a lowest score for its respondents with cancer on overall health (74.3 out of 100), in comparison to that of the general population (81.8 out of 100)
• with respondents with cancer reporting the lowest average score in the quality of life functional categories of work or leisure (74.7 out of 100) activities.

Furthermore, the latest analysis of the survey indicated difficulty sleeping (26.5%) as one of the symptoms experienced by respondents with cancer which may benefit from further investigation.