Cancer.

A scary term, isn't it?

While a lot of progress in management has been made in recent years, cancer still remains a major cause of death of Americans.

Let us see how the US is faring over the years in combating deaths due to cancer. The map shows changes in death rates due to cancer of all types for each county between the years 1980 through 2014.

Overall progress is being made in reducing the death rate due to cancer, as indicated by the greenish areas. These indicate reduction of deaths due to cancer in 2014 as compared to 1980.

For example, Los Angeles County in California shows 157.42 deaths per 100,000 population in 2014 compared with a 234.61 deaths per 100,000 population in 1980. This shows a reduction of -32.90 % between these years.

However, some areas show an increase in mortality due to cancer. Specifically, Breathitt County in Kentucky shows an increase to 329.07 deaths in 2014 compared to 238.27 deaths in 1980. Quite a few counties in Kentucky also show an increase. Reasons for the increase are not clear.

California has fared quite well, as well as the north-eastern US.

Data for this study was sourced from: http://ghdx.healthdata.org/record/united-states-cancer-mortality-rates-county-1980-2014.