Cancer Mortality Statistics

A cancer mortality rate is the number of deaths, with cancer as the underlying cause of death, occurring in a specified population during a year. Cancer mortality is usually expressed as the number of deaths due to cancer per 100,000 population. That is,

Mortality Rate = (Cancer Deaths / Population) × 100,000

The numerator of the mortality rate is the number of deaths; the denominator is the size of the population. The population used depends on the rate to be calculated. For cancer sites that occur in only one sex, the sex-specific population (e.g., females for cervical cancer) is used. The mortality rate can be computed for a given cancer site or for all cancers combined.

Reports and Monographs

Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer provides an update on the trends in cancer incidence and death rates in the United States.

Cancer Stat Facts are a collection of statistical summaries for a number of common cancer types. They were developed to provide a quick overview of frequently-requested cancer statistics.

Interactive Tools for Accessing Precalculated Mortality Statistics

SEER*Explorer is an interactive website that provides easy access to a wide range of SEER cancer statistics. It provides detailed statistics for a cancer site by sex, race, calendar year, age, and for a selected number of cancer sites, by stage and histology.

National Childhood Cancer Registry Explorer provides incidence and survival statistics for cancers in children and adolescent and young adults ages 0-39, using data from the National Childhood Cancer Registry (NCCR).

State Cancer Profiles is a comprehensive system of interactive maps and graphs enabling the investigation of cancer trends at the national, state, and county level.

CI*Rank presents confidence intervals for ranks of age-adjusted US cancer incidence and mortality rates by geographic region. Confidence intervals for ranks of age-adjusted US mortality rates for other causes of death are also provided.

Cancer Query Systems: Mortality Statistics is a Web-based program that allows you to select statistics by defining various parameters.

US Cancer Statistics: Data Visualizations are the official federal statistics on cancer incidence and deaths, produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Last Updated: 15 Apr, 2022