More people are now reaching the five-year milestone following a cancer diagnosis, according to new data from the American Cancer Society.
For the first time ever, seven in 10 people — or 70% — now live five years after their cancer diagnosis, according to the ACS’s annual report released Tuesday and published in the organization’s medical journal.
In addition, survival rates have improved dramatically over the past decades for people diagnosed with some of the more fatal cancers, including myeloma and liver and lung cancers, the new data shows.
“It’s really an exciting point. If we went back to the 1970s, less than half the people would be cancer-free or surviving at five years,” Dr. William Dahut, ACS’s chief scientific officer, said Tuesday on ABC’s Good Morning America of the improved statistics.
Dahut cited lower tobacco use, more early detection screenings and improved therapies as the main factors propelling the rising survival rates.
The ACS’ report did find, however, that while the mortality rate for cancer is declining, the incidence rate for more common cancers — including breast, endometrial, prostate and pancreatic cancers — continues to rise.
In 2026 alone, the ACS projects that 5,800 people will be diagnosed with cancer each day, reaching over 2 million diagnoses in total. More than 620,000 people are projected to die from cancer this year, according to the data.