Cancer Treatment and Survivorship Facts & Figures
Cancer Treatment & Survivorship Statistics, 2025 is a scientific article published in the American Cancer Society's flagship journal, CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians in the ACS Facts & Figures series. Fast Facts: Cancer Treatment and Survivorship offers consumer-friendly highlights of some key statistics.
The population of cancer survivors in the US continues to grow:
As of January 1, 2025, about 1 out of every 18 Americans (18.6 million people) was a cancer survivor. By 2035, that number is projected to exceed 22 million.
There are 4.3 million women living in the United States with a history of breast cancer as of January 2025:
By 2035, we expect to have about 5.3 million – nearly 1 million more breast cancer survivors.
Cancer treatment disparities persist:
In 2021, 39% of Black people with early-stage rectal cancer received surgery compared to 64% of White people.
Glossary for Nonscientists
Featured Term:
Cancer Survivor
Anyone who has ever been diagnosed with cancer no matter where they are in the course of their disease. For example, someone living with cancer may be considered a survivor. Some people use the term to refer to someone who has completed cancer treatment.Others call a person a survivor if they have lived several years past a cancer diagnosis. Some people with a personal history of cancer don't identify with the term at all.
The American Cancer Society believes that each person has the right to define their own experience with cancer and considers a cancer survivor to be anyone who describes themselves this way, from diagnosis throughout the rest of their life.
