According to the 75th annual Cancer Statistics report from the American Cancer Society, survival outcomes for people diagnosed with cancer have improved dramatically. In the mid 1970s, only about half of patients lived five years after a diagnosis. Today, that figure has risen to nearly 70 percent, meaning seven in ten people diagnosed with cancer now reach their five year milestone.

These gains reflect two major breakthroughs in cancer care. The first is treatment. Advances in targeted therapies have transformed outcomes for several cancers, particularly some leukemias. Drugs known as tyrosine kinase inhibitors allow many patients to live near normal life spans, turning once fatal diagnoses into long term conditions.

The second is earlier detection. Widespread screening for cancers such as breast and prostate cancer has helped doctors diagnose disease before it becomes harder to treat. Even more encouraging is that survival has improved not only for early stage cancers, but also for advanced disease. People diagnosed with regional stage cancer, where tumors have spread to nearby organs, and distant stage cancer, where cancer has spread far from its original site, are living longer than ever before.

For all distant stage cancers combined, the relative survival rate doubled from 17 percent in the mid 1990s to 35 percent for patients diagnosed between 2015 and 2021.

Some of the biggest improvements have come in cancers that historically had very low survival rates. Liver cancer survival rose from 7 percent in the 1990s to 22 percent in 2023. Lung cancer survival increased from 15 percent to 28 percent. Myeloma survival nearly doubled, climbing from 32 percent to 62 percent.

Progress is especially notable in lung cancer, which remains the leading cause of cancer death. Most lung cancers are diagnosed after the disease has already spread, yet outcomes are improving. Five year survival for regional stage lung cancer increased from 20 percent to 37 percent, while survival for distant stage lung cancer rose from just 2 percent to 10 percent.

Cancer death rates offer one of the clearest measures of progress. Between 1991 and 2023, the overall cancer death rate in the United States fell by 34 percent. That decline translates to an estimated 4.8 million lives saved compared with what would have occurred if death rates had remained at their peak.

Despite these advances, cancer remains a major public health challenge. In 2026, an estimated 2.1 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer, or about 5,800 new cases each day. Roughly 626,000 people are expected to die from the disease, equivalent to about 1,720 deaths daily.

For women, breast cancer remains the most commonly diagnosed cancer, followed by lung cancer. Rates of liver cancer, melanoma, and uterine cancer are also rising. For men, prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed and continues to increase, occurring at twice the rate of lung cancer. Pancreatic cancer and cancers of the oral cavity are rising in both men and women.

Cancer remains the leading cause of death for men aged 60 to 79 and women aged 40 to 79. Across all ages, it is the second leading cause of death after heart disease.

The story of cancer today is one of real progress paired with persistent urgency. Survival is improving, treatments are more precise, and millions of lives have been saved. But the scale of the disease makes clear that continued research, prevention, and early detection remain as critical as ever.

Photo by Rido