Breast cancer statistics 2026

How many people get breast cancer worldwide?

Breast cancer was the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in the world in 2024, after lung cancer, and the most common cancer in women in 164 of 186 countries. These are GLOBOCAN estimates from WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), published in July 2026. Survival varies widely: median five-year net survival is 41.9% in low-income countries and 87.3% in high-income countries.

How many people get breast cancer in the UK?

About 59,400 people are diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK each year, almost all of them women, and about 11,200 die from it. Survival depends strongly on stage: in England almost all women diagnosed at stage 1 survive five years, compared with more than 30% at stage 4.

How many people get breast cancer in the US?

The American Cancer Society projects 321,910 new invasive breast cancers in US women in 2026, plus 60,730 cases of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), and 42,140 deaths. The latest actual counts, from the CDC, are 288,494 new cases in 2023 and 43,402 deaths in 2024.

How many people get breast cancer in Indonesia?

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Indonesia. IARC estimates 93,236 new cases and 38,012 deaths in 2024. The Ministry of Health says more than 70% of patients first reach a health facility at stage III or IV.

Why do breast cancer statistics differ between sources?

Well-known sources often publish different numbers for what sounds like the same thing. Usually they are counting different things: a different year, an estimate rather than a count, invasive cancers only or in situ cancers too, women only or everyone, or a different survival method.

At what age does breast screening start?

Most organised breast screening programmes invite women from 50, every two or three years. The UK nations invite women from 50 to 70 every three years, and the US recommends a mammogram every two years from 40 to 74. Our table compares who is invited, at what age, how often and with which test.

Compare screening ages, intervals and tests in 25 countries →

How was this data snapshot made?

1. We used the headline figures published by WHO and its cancer agency IARC (global and Indonesia), Indonesia's Ministry of Health, Cancer Research UK and NHS England (UK), and the American Cancer Society, NCI SEER and the CDC (US).
2. We copied each value as published, with the year it describes, who it covers and whether it is an estimate, a projection, a registry count or a survival figure. We did not adjust or recalculate figures. The one sum, US invasive plus DCIS cases, is labelled.
3. We opened every source page and recorded the date we checked it. Where well-known sources disagree, we kept both and explain the difference.
4. IARC's Global Cancer Observatory could not be reached from our network on the check date. We read the same two fact sheets through Internet Archive captures from October 2026 and checked the world totals against WHO's live fact sheet.
5. The snapshot has a version number (2026.10). When sources update, we publish a new version rather than quietly changing this one.

Figures were checked between 22 October 2026 and 22 October 2026. If a source updates its numbers, we publish a new snapshot with a new version number rather than editing this one silently. Report an error on our corrections page.

What this data cannot tell you

• Global and Indonesian figures are model estimates, not counts. Many countries have no national cancer registry, so IARC estimates their numbers from partial data.
• US figures for 2026 are projections made before the year began, not counts of people diagnosed in 2026.
• UK counts describe earlier years, because cancer registration takes time. Stage-by-stage survival is published for England only.
• Survival percentages describe large groups of people diagnosed years ago. They cannot tell you what will happen to one person, and treatment has improved since.
• Countries count in different years with different registries and methods. To compare countries, use age-standardised rates rather than raw counts.
• Most figures are for women. Breast cancer in men is much rarer, and most sources count it separately.
• This is a compilation by Breast Cancer Charity, not an official statistic. Cite the original source as well as this page.

For what a diagnosis means for you, talk to your care team. Our guides explain stages and survival statistics in plain English, and breast cancer support lists free helplines.

Download and cite this data

Download CSV (54 figures) Download JSON (with notes) All open datasets

Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. You can reuse the table with credit. Please also cite the original source named in each row, and give the year each figure describes.

Suggested citationBreast Cancer Charity (2026). Breast cancer statistics 2026: global, UK, US and Indonesia. Data snapshot 2026.10, published 22 October 2026. https://breastcancer-charity.org/breast-cancer-statistics-2026/

Suggested wordingAbout 2.43 million people were diagnosed with breast cancer worldwide in 2024, according to IARC's GLOBOCAN 2024 estimates (compiled by Breast Cancer Charity, October 2026).

Journalists can reach us through the press page.

Questions about these statistics