epidemiology

Last edited 06/2023 and last reviewed 06/2023

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK.

Invasive breast cancer in the United Kingdom:

• are around 55,900 new breast cancer cases in the UK every year, that's more than 150 every day (2016-2018)
  
  
• breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, accounting for 15% of all new cancer cases (2016-2018)
  
  
• in females in the UK, breast cancer is the most common cancer, with around 55,500 new cases every year (2016-2018)
  
  
• in males in the UK, breast cancer is not among the 20 most common cancers, with around 370 new cases every year (2016-2018)
  
  
• incidence rates for breast cancer in the UK are highest in people aged 90+ (2016-2018)
  
  
• each year around a quarter (24%) of all new breast cancer cases in the UK are diagnosed in people aged 75 and over (2016-2018)
  
  
• since the early 1990s, breast cancer incidence rates have increased by around a sixth (18%) in the UK. Rates in females have increased by around a quarter (24%), and rates in males have remained stable (2016-2018)
  
  
• over the last decade, breast cancer incidence rates have increased by less than a twentieth (3%) in the UK. Rates in females have increased by a twentieth (5%), and rates in males have remained stable (2016-2018)
  
  
• breast cancer incidence rates in England in females are 14% lower in the most deprived quintile compared with the least, and in males are similar in the most deprived quintile compared with the least (2013-2017)
  
  
• around 3,000 cases of breast cancer each year in England in females are linked with lower deprivation

Reference:

• (1) Cancer Research UK. Breast Cancer Statistics (accessed 15/6/23)
• (2) Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer (April 2000). NHS Executive.