For a thorough compendium of cancer statistics for the United States in 2024, see this paper by the American Cancer Society.
This is their Conclusion:
- Cancer mortality continued to decline in the United States through 2021, resulting in an overall drop of 33% since 1991 because of reductions in smoking, earlier detection for some cancers, and improved treatment, including recent developments in targeted therapies and immunotherapy.
- However, progress is lagging in cancer prevention, as incidence continues to increase for 6 of the top 10 cancers, including breast, prostate, uterine corpus, pancreas, oropharynx, liver (female), kidney, and melanoma, as well as CRC (colorectal cancer) and cervical cancer in young adults.
- Among adults younger than 50 years, CRC (colorectal cancer)is now the leading cause of cancer death in men and the second-leading cause in women (behind breast cancer), despite ranking fourth in 1998.
- Additionally, cancer patients are increasingly shifting from older to middle-aged individuals who have many more years of life expectancy, and thus, opportunity to experience the late effects of treatment, including subsequent cancers.
- Progress is also stagnant in reducing cancer disparities, especially among Black women, who have mortality rates 40% higher for breast cancer and two times higher for uterine corpus cancer despite similar incidence. Further, it is no coincidence that AIAN men and women have the highest cancer incidence and mortality as well as the highest poverty rate compared to other racial and ethnic groups. A small but promising step toward addressing this issue is the Persistent Poverty Initiative, which was recently funded with $50 million to address the impact of poverty on cancer outcomes in communities where ≥20% of residents have lived below the federal poverty line for at least 30 years.153
- Overall progress against cancer could be accelerated by increasing investment in cancer prevention and mitigating cancer disparities through expanded access to high-quality care, especially among AIAN and Black individuals.