Cancer Research UK predicts ovarian cancer deaths will see the biggest decline by 2030.
The number of people dying of cancer will fall dramatically over the next 20 years, according to Cancer Research UK. The statistics, published by the UK charity, show death rates are predicted to fall 17 percent by 2030. This drop can be attributed to fewer people smoking and improvements in treatment and diagnosis.
For all cancers, adjusting for age, 170 people out of every 100,000 died from cancer in 2010 in the UK. By 2030 this is expected to fall to 142 in every 100,000. These figures include some of the biggest killers – breast, lung, bowel and prostate cancers.
Ovarian cancer will see the biggest fall with death rates expected to reduce by 43 percent. A decrease of 9.1 women per 100,000 to 5.3 by 2030. The figures also show that breast cancer, bowel and prostate cancer will have significant reductions in the number of people in every 100,000 dying – falling by 28% for breast cancer, 23% for bowel cancer and 16% for prostate cancer.
However, the death rates for oral and liver cancer are predicted to rise in the coming decades. Mouth cancer is expected to rise by 22 percent and liver cancer by 39 percent. As people live longer the number of people developing and dying from cancer will increase. But this will make up a smaller proportion of the total number of deaths, so the death rate will fall.
The Department of Health told the BBC, “These figures reflect improvements in cancer services, but we know there is still more to do.
“Our aim is to save 5,000 more lives every year by 2015 – and halve the gap in cancer survival between us and the best-performing countries in Europe.”