Cancer Registration Statistics, England 2020

In 2020, the 3 most common cancers diagnosed in England varied by gender and age group. Despite the fall in the number of diagnoses, the 3 most common cancers for each combination of age group and gender in 2020 are the same as those seen in 2019.

For males aged 0 to 14 years, the 3 most common cancers, leukaemia, brain cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, accounted for 61% of all cancers registered (Figure 2). For females aged 0 to 14 years, the 3 most common cancers, leukaemia, brain cancer and kidney cancer, accounted for 52% of all cancers registered (Figure 3).

For adult males aged 15 to 44 years, testicular cancer was the most commonly diagnosed (Figure 2) while prostate cancer was the most commonly diagnosed cancer in adult males aged 45 years and over. For males aged 45 years and over, bowel cancer was the second most commonly diagnosed cancer. For males aged 45 to 54 years, the third most common cancer to be diagnosed was lip, oral cavity and pharynx cancer; for those aged 55 years and over, lung cancer was the third most commonly diagnosed cancer.

Breast cancer was the most commonly diagnosed cancer in all females aged 15 years and over, accounting for 48% of cancers diagnosed in those aged 45 to 54 years, and gradually decreasing to 20% of cancers diagnosed in those aged 75 years and over (Figure 3). For females aged 45 years and over, bowel cancer was the second most commonly diagnosed cancer. For females aged 45 to 54 years, the third most common cancer to be diagnosed was melanoma of skin; for those aged 55 years and over, lung cancer was the third most commonly diagnosed cancer.

Up until 2019, the number of all cancers diagnosed was proportionately slightly larger than the previous year of diagnoses for most combinations of age and gender. Between 2019 and 2020 there was a small increase in the number of cancers registered for males aged 1 to 9 and 15 to 19. The number of cancers registered for females increased between 2019 and 2020 by 1 diagnosis in the age group 10 to 14. There are falls in the number of registered diagnoses for all cancers in every other combination of age and gender.

Table 3: Change in the number of all cancers diagnosed for males between 2019 and 2020 by age, England

The five largest numerical falls of registered cancer diagnoses between 2019 and 2020 occurred for males aged 65 to 79 and females aged 65 to 74. The falls for males are larger than females for the ages 10 to 14, 30 to 34 and 55 to 89. The number of cancers registered in those aged under 1 fell between 2019 and 2020 by 12 for females and 23 for males and were the largest proportionate falls for males and females. For the ages when cancer is most commonly diagnosed (45 to 89 for females and 50 to 89 for males), the proportionate falls were similar and seen for both males and females across each age range.

Table 4: Change in the number of all cancers diagnosed for females between 2019 and 2020 by age, England