Survival for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL)
Survival depends on different factors. So no one can tell you exactly how long you will live.
Doctors usually work out the outlook for a certain disease by looking at large groups of people. Because this cancer is less common, survival is harder to estimate than for other, more common cancers.
Some of the statistics have to be based on a small number of people. Remember, they can't tell you what will happen in your individual case.
Your doctor can give you more information about your own outlook (
You can also talk about this to the Cancer Research UK nurses on freephone 0808 800 4040, from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
The statistics on this page are for people of all ages who have ALL. We have a separate page about survival for children with cancer. This includes statistics for children with ALL.
About these statistics
The terms 1 year survival and 5 year survival don't mean that you will only live for 1 or 5 years.
The NHS, other health organisations, and researchers collect information. They watch what happens to people with cancer in the years after their diagnosis. 5 years is a common time point to measure survival. But some people live much longer than this.
5 year survival is the number of people who have not died from their cancer within 5 years after diagnosis.
Survival statistics for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL)
There are no UK-wide statistics available for ALL survival. Statistics for people diagnosed with ALL are available for England. The figures for 1 year survival are for people diagnosed between 2018 and 2020. The figures for 5 year survival are for people diagnosed between 2014 and 2016.
Generally for all people with ALL in England:
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around 85 out of 100 people (around 85%) will survive their leukaemia for 1 year or more after being diagnosed
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70 out of 100 people (70%) will survive their leukaemia for 5 years or more after being diagnosed
This is for all ages. Younger people tend to have a better prognosis than older people.
1 year survival statistics
National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS), detailed statistics from the ‘Get Data Out’ programme, accessed August 2024
These figures are for people diagnosed in England between 2018 and 2020.
5 year survival statistics
National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS), detailed statistics from the ‘Get Data Out’ programme, accessed August 2024
These figures are for people diagnosed in England between 2014 and 2016.
These statistics are for net survival. Net survival estimates the number of people who survive their cancer rather than calculating the number of people diagnosed with cancer who are still alive. In other words, it is the survival of cancer patients after taking into account that some people would have died from other causes if they had not had cancer.
Doctors use the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, third edition (ICD-O-3) to categorise tumours. They use it to code the site of the tumour (where it is in the body) and the sub type (what the cells look like under the microscope - histology or morphology). These survival statistics are for ALL with the following ICD-O-3 codes:
9727/3, 9728/3, 9729/3, 9811/3, 9812/3, 9813/3, 9814/3, 9815/3, 9816/3, 9817/3, 9818/3, 9835/3, 9836/3, 9837/3
Statistics for people diagnosed with ALL by age are available from one area of England between 2010 and 2019.
For those aged between 15 and 39:
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65 out of 100 (65%) will survive their leukaemia for 5 years or more after diagnosis. If you are aged between 15 and 24, your prognosis might be better than this
For those aged 40 and older:
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around 25 out of 100 people (around 25%) will survive their leukaemia for 5 years or more after diagnosis
Haematological Malignancy Research Network (HMRN) – Survival statistics: Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
Accessed August 2024
The HMRN statistics are for net survival. Net survival estimates the number of people who survive their cancer rather than calculating the number of people diagnosed with cancer who are still alive. In other words, it is the survival of cancer patients after taking into account that some people would have died from other causes if they had not had cancer.
These survival statistics are for ALL with the following ICD-O-3 codes:
9811/3, 9812/3, 9813/3, 9814/3, 9815/3, 9816/3, 9818/3, 9837/3
What affects survival?
Your age affects how well leukaemia responds to treatment. Younger people have a better prognosis.
Outlook for ALL depends on other things such as:
- what type of ALL you have
- if you have a high number of white blood cells in the blood at diagnosis
- the changes found in the chromosomes or genes of your cancer cells
- if you have leukaemia cells in your spine and brain (central nervous system or CNS)
- if your ALL that doesn't go away with treatment. This is called refractory ALL
- if your ALL comes back after treatment. This is called relapsed ALL
Some specific genetic abnormalities in your leukaemia cells may make the leukaemia harder to treat successfully. But some changes may make it easier as they might allow treatment to be more targeted.
Your outlook is also affected by how well the leukaemia responds to treatment and how long it takes to get into remission. Remission means that there is no sign of leukaemia in your bone marrow when looked at under a microscope. And the numbers of blood cells have returned to normal.
More statistics
For more in-depth information about survival and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, go to our Cancer Statistics section.