Report Finds Seventy Percent 5-Year Survival Rate for All Cancers Combined

The American Cancer Society has released its 2026 cancer statistics report, estimating the number of new cancer cases and deaths in the US, with 1 key finding revealing that the most recent 5-year relative survival across all cancers was 70% for diagnoses between 2015 and 2021 according to an article published in Cancer.

Regarding the expected number of new cancer cases, approximately 2,114,850 new diagnoses will be made in 2026, amounting to approximately 5800 daily cases. Additionally, an estimated 1,094,070 men and 1,020,780 women will be diagnosed with cancer. The most common estimated diagnoses for men include 345,900 for the genital system, 333,830 for prostate cancer, 203,500 for the digestive system, and 124,540 for respiratory cancers; for women, the most common diagnoses include 321,910 for breast cancer, 166,470 for digestive cancers, 123,280 for respiratory cancers, and 117,660 for genital system cancers.

Additional findings revealed that the lifetime probability of a diagnosis of invasive cancer is about 1 in 3 among men (39.2%) and women (38.7%), with 60% of diagnoses occurring in patients 65 years and older, 28% occurring in those 50 years to 64 years, and 12% occurring in those younger than 50.

An estimated 626,140 patients will die from cancer in 2026, or about 1720 daily, including 327,290 men and 298,000 women. For men, digestive system cancers will account for the greatest number of deaths (102,000), followed by respiratory system cancers (67,260), and prostate cancer (36,320). For women, digestive system cancers will also account for the most deaths (76,700), followed by respiratory system cancers (63,290), breast cancer (42,140), and genital system cancers (34,570).

Of note, although smoking prevalence dropped from 42% in 1964 to 11% in 2023, it continues to be the leading cause of preventable death in the US, with 182,830 cancer deaths in 2026 attributable to direct smoking use or secondhand smoke exposure. Lung cancer will kill more patients than colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer, the latter of which rank 2 and 3, respectively, combined.

Regarding long-term temporal trends in overall cancer incidence by sex, showed that the incidence of cancer in men remained steady between 2014 and 2022 at around 500 diagnoses per 100,000 after a general decline following a spike in the 1990s due to the surge in detection of asymptomatic prostate cancer through widespread prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing. Since 1978, the cancer incidence among women has gradually increased to about 445 per 100,000 in 2022. The current male-to-female incidence ratio was about 1.1 in 2022.

Incidence trends show that prostate cancer incidence is more than double that of lung cancer among men, with prostate cancer incidence rising by about 2.9% per year, including 4.6% per year for regional-stage disease and 5.6% for distant-stage disease. Additionally, a noted increase in advanced-stage diagnoses was observed.

Similarly, breast cancer incidence is over double that of lung cancer among women, with incidences steadily increasing by about 1% between 2013 and 2022, driven by localized-stage and hormone-receptor–positive diagnoses. Notably, women younger than 50 (1.4%), Hispanic or Asian American women (1.8%), and Native Hawaiian, or other Pacific Islander women (2.7%) have seen the sharpest rises. Additionally, the authors purport that the rise in incidence could be attributed to decreasing fertility rates and increased obesity prevalence, particularly among postmenopausal women.

“Cancer mortality continued to decline in the US through 2023, resulting in 4.8 million deaths averted since 1991 because of reductions in smoking, earlier detection for some cancers, and improved treatment,” Rebecca L. Siegel, MPH, senior scientific director of Cancer Surveillance Research at the American Cancer Society, wrote in the publication with study co-investigators. “These interventions have also contributed to a milestone 70% 5-year survival rate for all cancers combined, including remarkable gains over the past 2 decades for many high-mortality and advanced cancers.”

Since the mid-1970s, the overall 5-year cancer survival rate has increased by about 21% from 49% to 70% from 2015 to 2021. The highest contemporary survival rates include thyroid cancer (98%), prostate cancer (98%), testicular cancer (95%), and melanoma (95%). The lowest include lung cancer (28%), liver cancer (22%), esophageal cancer (22%), and pancreatic cancer (13%).

Furthermore, reductions in smoking as well as improvements in disease management and early diagnosis correlated to a 34% reduction in cancer-related deaths from 1991 to 2023, mitigating an estimated 4.8 million cancer mortalities, including an estimated 3,256,800 in men and 1,555,300 in women. Additionally, the contribution of treatment advances correlated with an accelerated decline in the past decade, with stage-specific survival accounting for 174,000 fewer cancer deaths from 2010 to 2019.

The data presented in the article was derived from the NCI Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program and the CDC National Program of Cancer Registries (NCPR), Additionally, the North American Association for Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR) compiles and reports incidence data for registries participating in the SEER program and/or the NCPR since 1995, with data approaching 100% coverage of the US population for the most recent years. Morality data were provided by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

Reference

Siegel RL, Kratzer TB, Wagle NS, Sung H, Jemal A. Cancer statistics, 2026. Cancer. 2026;46(1):e70043. doi:10.3322/caac.70043