How common are different types of cancer?

After heart disease, cancer is the second most common cause of death in Western societies. In your lifetime, the risk of developing some kind of cancer is greater than one in three. There are perhaps 200 different types of cancer, but many are rare.

The most commonly diagnosed are non-melanoma skin cancers, many of which are easily treated. For men, the next most common three types of cancer are prostate, lung and bowel. For women, breast cancer is most prevalent, followed by lung and bowel. The number-one killer among all these is lung cancer, for both men and women. Outside of the West, liver cancer and cervical cancer are among the most common types.