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General Cancer Facts and StatisticsCancer facts and statistics, including risk and survival rates.1/10 of 1% of the U.S. budget is invested in cancer research. In 2008, over 1.437 million new cases of cancer are expected to be diagnosed in the United States, and more than 565,650 lives will be lost. That's more lives lost than by the U.S. military on all battlefields this century. Each day, more than 1,500 Americans die of cancer, the 2nd leading cause of death in the U.S. It is responsible for 1/4 of all deaths in the US. Since 1990, about 16 million new cancer cases have been diagnosed. The cost of cancer to the economy was more than $219.2 billion in 2007. We invest just over $4 billion annually to cure cancer. If cancer were cured today, the economic value to the United States would exceed $46 trillion, more than the entire financial assets of the country. American men have a 1 in 2 lifetime risk of developing cancer. For women, the risk is 1 in 3. Cancer risk, including prostate cancer risk, increases after the age of 50. Baby boomers turn 50 at the rate of 1 every 7 seconds. In 2003, the National Cancer Institute issued a Challenge to the Nation to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer by the year 2015. In 1971, President Richard Nixon declared America's war on cancer, promising to end its toll within a decade. Each subsequent administration has reaffirmed this commitment, yet the number of cancer cases and deaths continue to grow. In 1938, President Franklin Roosevelt declared war on polio, and within 2 decades, polio had been successfully controlled in this country. In 2002, the World Health Organization anticipates the complete eradication of polio on the planet. At its worst, polio claimed about 17,000 American lives and caused about 52,000 new cases in the United States in a single year. Cancer takes 33 times as many lives and causes 26 times as many cases in a single year. General Cancer Statistics from Other Sources: |  | ||||||||||||||||||||
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American Cancer Society's Statistics
