Children's cancers incidence statistics

Cases

New cases of children's cancer each year, 2017-2019 average, UK

 

Proportion of all cases

Percentage children's cancer is of total cancer cases, 2017-2019, UK

 

Age

Peak rate of children's cancer cases, 2017-2019, UK

 

Trend over time

Change in children's cancers incidence rates since the early 2000s, UK

 

Cancer in children accounts for less than 1% of all new cancer cases in the UK (2017-2019).[1-4]

45% of children's cancer cases in the UK are in girls, and 55% are in boys.

Children's cancer incidence rates (World age-standardised (AS) rate Open a glossary item) for boys and girls combined are similar to the UK average in all the UK constituent countries.

Children's Cancers (C00-C97, D32-D33, D35.2-D35.4, D42-D43, D44.3-D44.5), Average Number of New Cases Per Year, Crude and World Age-Standardised (AS) Incidence Rates per Million Population, Ages 0-14, UK, 2017-2019

  England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland UK
Girls Cases 729 66 34 24 853
Crude Rate 147.6 157.3 133.1 132.8 147.2
AS Rate 151.9 162.5 137.3 140.0 151.6
AS Rate - 95% LCI 145.5 139.9 110.8 107.7 145.8
AS Rate - 95% UCI 158.3 185.1 163.8 172.4 157.5
Boys Cases 900 68 47 33 1,048
Crude Rate 173.5 153.4 173.5 173.5 172.0
AS Rate 178.8 157.4 181.3 177.2 177.3
AS Rate - 95% LCI 172.1 135.8 151.4 142.3 171.1
AS Rate - 95% UCI 185.6 179.0 211.3 212.1 183.5
Children Cases 1,629 134 81 57 1,902
Crude Rate 160.8 155.3 153.8 153.7 159.9
AS Rate 165.7 159.9 159.9 159.1 164.8
AS Rate - 95% LCI 161.1 144.3 139.8 135.2 160.5
AS Rate - 95% UCI 170.3 175.5 179.9 182.9 169.1

95% LCL and 95% UCL are the 95% lower and upper confidence limits around the AS Rate Open a glossary item

References

  1. England data were provided by the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS), part of the National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) in NHS England, on request through the Office for Data Release, January 2023. Similar data can be found here: https://www.cancerdata.nhs.uk/ 

  2.  Northern Ireland data were provided by the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry (NICR) on request, October 2021. Similar data can be found here:http://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/nicr/. 

  3. Welsh data were published by the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit (WCISU), Health Intelligence Division, Public Health Wales https://phw.nhs.wales/services-and-teams/welsh-cancer-intelligence-and-surveillance-unit-wcisu/cancer-reporting-tool-official-statistics/ June 2022. 

  4. Scotland data were provided by the Scottish Cancer Registry, Public Health Scotland (PHS) on request, May 2021. Similar data can be found here: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/show-all-releases?id=20468

About this data

Data is for UK, 2017-2019, ICD-10 C00-C97, D32-D33, D35.2-D35.4, D42-D43, D44.3-D44.5.

Children's cancers includes all malignant tumours (ICD-10 codes: C00-C97), and all non-malignant brain, other central nervous system and intracranial tumours (ICD-10 codes: D32-D33, D35.2-D35.4, D42-D43 and D44.3-D44.5).

Last reviewed:

The highest incidence rates for all children's cancers combined are in the under-fives for both sexes, with almost half (45%) of all cases in children being diagnosed in this age group (UK, 2017-2019).[1-4] This pattern varies greatly by cancer type. [5]

Childhood cancer usually has no known cause. For most cancer types incidence increases with age, which largely reflects cell DNA damage accumulating over time. Damage can result from biological processes or from exposure to risk factors.

See also

Want more detailed cancer incidence and survival statistics across the UK? Explore our Children and Young People's Cancers Data Hub

Cancer incidence by age statistics for adults' cancers

Cancer incidence statistics for young people's cancers

Cancer incidence and survival statistics by cancer type for children and young people

References

  1. Data were provided by the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (part of Public Health England), on request through the Office for Data Release, July 2021. Similar data can be found here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/cancerregistrationstatisticsengland/previousReleases
  2. Data were provided by ISD Scotland on request, April 2020. Similar data can be found here: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Cancer/Publications.
  3. Data were published by the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit, Health Intelligence Division, Public Health Wales https://phw.nhs.wales/services-and-teams/welsh-cancer-intelligence-and-surveillance-unit-wcisu/cancer-incidence-in-wales-2002-2018/, March 2021.
  4. Data were provided by the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry on request, May 2020. Similar data can be found here: http://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/nicr/.
  5. Public Health England. Children, teenagers and young adults UK cancer statistics report 2021. Available from https://digital.nhs.uk/ndrs/data/data-outputs/ctya-uk-cancer-statistics-report-2021, accessed June 2021.

About this data

Data is for UK, 2017-2019, ICD-10 C00-C97, D32-D33, D35.2-D35.4, D42-D43, D44.3-D44.5.

Last reviewed:

World age-standardised (AS) Open a glossary item incidence rates for girls and boys combined increased by 8% in the UK between 2000-2002 and 2017-2019.[1-4] The change varied markedly between sexes.

For girls, cancer AS incidence rates in the UK remained stable between 2000-2002 and 2017-2019. For boys, cancer AS incidence rates in the UK increased by 8% between 2000-2002 and 2017-2019.

Over the last decade in the UK (between 2007-2009 and 2017-2019), children's cancers AS incidence rates for girls and boys combined increased by 6%. For girls, cancer AS incidence rates remained stable, and for boys rates remained stable as well.[1-4]

Children's Cancers (C00-C97, D32-D33, D35.2-D35.4, D42-D43, D44.3-D44.5), World Age-Standardised Incidence Rates, Ages 0-14, UK, 2000 to 2019

Children’s cancers includes all malignant tumours (ICD-10 codes: C00-C97) and all non-malignant brain, other central nervous system and intracranial tumours (ICD-10 codes: D32-D33, D35.2-D35.4, D42-D43 and D44.3-D44.5).

These trends include non-malignant brain, other central nervous system and intracranial tumours because they account for a relatively high proportion of cases in this age group. Data on malignant tumours have been collected by UK cancer registries for many decades, but data on non-malignant brain tumours were not consistently collected until the early 2000s. This means trends starting before the early 2000s are not reliable for non-malignant brain tumours and are therefore not reported.

References

  1. England data were provided by the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS), part of the National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) in NHS England, on request through the Office for Data Release, January 2023. Similar data can be found here: https://www.cancerdata.nhs.uk/ 

  2.  Northern Ireland data were provided by the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry (NICR) on request, October 2021. Similar data can be found here:http://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/nicr/. 

  3. Welsh data were published by the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit (WCISU), Health Intelligence Division, Public Health Wales https://phw.nhs.wales/services-and-teams/welsh-cancer-intelligence-and-surveillance-unit-wcisu/cancer-reporting-tool-official-statistics/ June 2022. 

  4. Scotland data were provided by the Scottish Cancer Registry, Public Health Scotland (PHS) on request, May 2021. Similar data can be found here: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/show-all-releases?id=20468

About this data

Data is for UK, 2000-2019, ICD-10 C00-C97, D32-D33, D35.2-D35.4, D42-D43, D44.3-D44.5.

Children’s cancers includes all malignant tumours (ICD-10 codes: C00-C97), and all non-malignant brain, other central nervous system and intracranial tumours (ICD-10 codes: D32-D33, D35.2-D35.4, D42-D43 and D44.3-D44.5).

Last reviewed:

Children’s cancers are classified into 12 broad diagnostic groups (each of which can be further subdivided) according to the International Classification of Childhood Cancer, Third Edition (ICCC-3).[1] There are UK statistics for 88 distinct diagnostic subgroups of children’s cancers.[2]

The most common groups of children’s cancers in the UK are leukaemias, myeloproliferative diseases, and myelodysplastic diseases (31% of cases), CNS and miscellaneous intracranial and intraspinal neoplasms (25% of cases), and lymphomas and reticuloendothelial neoplasms (10% of cases) (1997-2016).[2]

See also

See our new Children and Young People's Cancers Incidence and Survival Interactive Dashboard for data broken down by diagnostic group, UK nation, sex and age group

Cancer incidence statistics for common cancers in the UK

Cancer incidence and survival statistics by cancer type for children and young people

References

  1. Steliarova-Foucher E, Stiller C, et al. International Classification of Childhood Cancer, third edition. Cancer 2005;103:1457-67.
  2. Public Health England. Children, teenagers and young adults UK cancer statistics report 2021. Available from http://ncin.org.uk/cancer_type_and_topic_specific_work/cancer_type_specific_work/cancer_in_children_teenagers_and_young_adults/, accessed March 2021.

About this data

Data is for UK, 1997-2016, International Classification of Childhood Cancer, Third Edition (ICCC-3)

Last reviewed:

Around 25,500 people who had been diagnosed with cancer in childhood in the UK between 1997 and 2016, were still alive at the end of 2018.[1]

See also

Cancer incidence statistics for all cancers in the UK

What is prevalence?

References

  1. Public Health England. Children, teenagers and young adults UK cancer statistics report 2021. Available from http://ncin.org.uk/cancer_type_and_topic_specific_work/cancer_type_specific_work/cancer_in_children_teenagers_and_young_adults/, accessed March 2021.

About this data

Data is for UK, 1997-2016, International Classification of Childhood Cancer, Third Edition (ICCC-3)

Last reviewed:

Cancer stats explained

See information and explanations on terminology used for statistics and reporting of cancer, and the methods used to calculate some of our statistics.

Cancer stats explained

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Acknowledgements

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