The 2026 Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer found that US cancer death rates continued a decline of more than two decades through 2023, driven largely by sustained progress against lung cancer.
The report is a collaboration among the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the American Cancer Society (ACS), and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR). Published in Cancer, the analysis used registry incidence data covering approximately 95–96% of the US population and national mortality data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Overall cancer death rates fell by 1.6% per year among males and 1.1% per year among females during 2019–2023. Lung cancer mortality declined substantially faster, falling 4.7% per year in males and 3.0% per year in females, and accounted for one in five cancer deaths in 2023.
Five-year relative survival for lung cancer doubled from 15.1% in 2000 to 30.1% in 2018, while the proportion of cancers diagnosed at an early stage increased by about two thirds. The authors said declining smoking rates, increased use of low-dose CT screening, and advances in treatment likely contributed to the improvement.
Adult smoking prevalence fell from 22.6% in 2001 to 9.9% in 2024, while lung cancer screening among eligible adults increased from 4.5% in 2015 to 18.7% in 2024. The report also highlighted the growing use of biomarker testing to guide targeted therapies and immunotherapies for tumors with actionable alterations including EGFR, ALK, and KRAS.