← Previous  Next →
10. Survival Rates Today

For three of the most prevalent cancers - prostate, breast and colon - the 5-year survival rates are well over 50%; for cancer types that are less common the survival rates are lower.


The good news: some very prevalent types of cancer -- like breast and prostate -- have now achieved high 5-yr. survival rates. But other types of cancer (including lung cancer) have low survival rates and those rates have not improved much during the past 50 years. Survival rates are shown by red slices of these pie charts:

5% of people survive pancreatic cancer. 10.5% of people survive liver cancer. 15% of people survive lung cancer. 23.9% of people survive stomach cancer. 44.7% of people survive ovarian cancer. 64.1% of people survive colorectal cancer. 65.6% of people survive kidney cancer. 71.6% of people survive cervical cancer. 88.5% of people survive breast cancer. 98% of people survive prostate cancer. The most prevalent cancers in men are prostate at 33%, lung at 13%, colon at 10%, and all others at 44%. The most prevalent cancers in women are breast at 31%, lung at 12%, colon at 11%, and all other types at 46%.