Lifetime Risk of Developing or Dying From Cancer

The lifetime risk of developing or dying from cancer refers to the chance a person has, over the course of his or her lifetime (from birth to death), of being diagnosed with or dying from cancer. These risk estimates are one way to measure of how widespread cancer is in the United States.

The following tables list lifetime risks of developing and dying from certain cancers for men and women in the US. The information is from the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database, and is based on incidence and mortality data for the United States from 2014 through 2016, the most recent years for which data are available.

The risk is expressed both in terms of a percentage and as odds.

For example, the risk that a man will develop cancer pf the pancreas during his lifetime is 1.66%. This means he has about 1 chance in 60 of developing pancreatic cancer (100/1.66 = 60).

Put another way, 1 out of every 60 men in the United States will develop pancreatic cancer during his lifetime.

These numbers are average risks for the overall US population. Your risk may be higher or lower than these numbers, depending on your particular risk factors.

Males

Risk of developing Risk of dying from % 1 in % 1 in All invasive sites 40.14 2 21.34 5 Bladder (includes in situ) 3.86 26 0.93 108 Brain and nervous system 0.69 145 0.53 189 Breast 0.13 769 0.03 3,333 Colon and rectum 4.41 23 1.83 55 Esophagus 0.80 125 0.76 132 Hodgkin lymphoma 0.24 417 0.04 2,500 Kidney and renal pelvis 2.16 46 0.60 167 Larynx (voice box) 0.53 189 0.19 526 Leukemia 1.86 54 0.96 104 Liver and bile duct 1.44 69 1.02 98 Lung and bronchus 6.70 15 5.49 18 Melanoma of the skin 2.77 36 0.39 256 Multiple myeloma 0.93 108 0.47 213 Non-Hodgkin lymphoma 2.43 41 0.81 123 Oral cavity and pharynx 1.66 60 0.42 238 Pancreas 1.66 60 1.39 72 Prostate 11.60 9 2.44 41 Stomach 1.07 93 0.45 222 Testicles 0.40 250 0.02 5,000 Thyroid 0.70 143 0.06 1,667

Females