Cancer death rates have dropped again among men, women, children and adolescents and young adults across demographics. 

The latest data comes from the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, which recently determined cancer death rates have declined from 2015 to 2019. The report’s findings were published in Cancer, and its annual publication is a collaborative effort among the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which part of the National Institutes of Health, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR). 

“Today’s report is good news in our fight against cancer and is a reminder of the importance of President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative,” Xavier Becerra, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said in a statement. “I’m deeply impressed by the progress we’re making against cancer and firmly believe we can meet the President’s goal of reducing the death rate from cancer by at least 50% over the next 25 years. We can and must end cancer as we know it.”

From 2015 to 2019, cancer death rates dropped 2.1% per year in men and women combined, the report found. However, despite an overall drop in death, new cancer cases rose for women (0.2% per year)  and adolescents and young adults. They remained stable among men. Death rates for men decreased 2.3% per year, compared to a 1.9% decrease per year for women. Fortunately, the annual declines in death rate have accelerated from 2001 to 2019 in both men and women.

The steepest declines in death rates came from lung cancer and melanoma (4% and 5% per year). However, death rates increased for cancers of the pancreas, brain, and bones and joints among men, and for cancers of the pancreas and uterus among women. The findings underscore how education about smoking and efforts for smoking cessation may be impacting death rates for lung cancer over the years. 

“The findings in this year’s Annual Report to the Nation show our ongoing progress against cancer, continuing a more than two-decade trend in declining mortality that reflects improvements in preventing, detecting and treating cancer,” Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, director of NCI, said in a statement. “The advances shown in the report underscore the importance of working together across society to develop effective, equitable approaches to tackle this complex disease.”

For men, overall cancer death rates have fallen over the years, despite higher incidences of pancreas, kidney and testis cancer rates. Among women, seven of the 18 most common cancers had higher incidence rates from 2015 to 2019, including liver, melanoma, kidney, myeloma, pancreas, breast, and oral cavity and pharynx. 

The biggest jump in cancers for men was pancreatic cancer, which rose 1.1% per year, while the biggest decline in incidence rate was for lung cancer, which fell 2.6% per year. For women, melanoma had the steepest increase in incidence, up 1.8% per year, while thyroid cancer had the sharpest decrease, falling 2.9% per year.