In June 2009, the British Journal of Cancer published research looking at the numbers of people, in the UK who had survived cancer. The article is called “Cancer prevalence in the United Kingdom – estimates for 2008”
Why is it an estimate if 2008 has passed? Well, we don’t know which people who have been treated for cancer recently will survive and which people will have their cancer come back. So what is the point of this research? It gives you actual numbers that you can compare over many years to see if things are actually getting better (or not). The good news is, things are getting better and the number of people who survive cancer, in the UK, is increasing by about 3% every year.
What does this mean in terms of actual numbers of people? In the UK, in 2008 there are about 2 million people who have survived cancer (this is roughly 3% of the whole population of the UK). The research also showed that 1 in 8 people over 65 years have survived cancer.
What do you think of these numbers? Do they surprise you? Are they lower or higher than you would expect? Please feel free to leave a comment below. Thanks.
If you are more impressed with the images than the text “
