Cancer is the cause of just over a quarter of all deaths in England in a typical year. The most common cancers are breast, lung, prostate and bowel cancer. In 2021, 134,802 people died from cancer in England. The number of deaths has increased by 6% since 2001. But after accounting for the fact that England’s population is both growing and ageing, the rate of cancer deaths has fallen by 23% among men and 16% among women.
