Cancer death rates almost 60% higher in UK’s most deprived areas

Cancer affects everyone, but the burden of cancer isn’t distributed evenly across the population, with health inequalities causing unfair differences in cancer outcomes. 

Health inequalities are driven by a complex interplay of determinants such as exposure to cancer risk factors and variation in access to healthcare. Inequalities exist by socioeconomic status, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and many other factors.  

We know that socioeconomic factors, including things like income and education, play a particularly large role in driving cancer inequalities, and a new report that we’ve published today illustrates the scale of the problem. 

Our new report, Cancer in the UK 2025: Socioeconomic deprivation, shows that cancer death rates are nearly 60% higher for people living in the most deprived areas of the UK compared with the least deprived*, with around 28,400 cancer deaths each year linked to socioeconomic inequality. This equates to around 78 deaths each day – more than 3 in 20 of all deaths from cancer**.  

“Beating cancer must mean beating it for everybody,” said Dr Ian Walker, executive director of policy and information at Cancer Research UK.  

“No one should be at a greater risk of dying from this devastating disease simply because of where they live. These figures are shocking and unacceptable – but crucially, they’re avoidable.”   

Preventable risk factors 

Around a tenth of all cancer diagnoses in the UK are linked to deprivation. Many of these are caused by preventable risk factors such as smoking and obesity.  

Smoking is the biggest cause of cancer in the UK, and smoking rates in the most deprived parts of the country are at least triple those in the least deprived. Smoking causes at least 16 different types of cancer, and more than 6 in 10 lung cancer cases in the UK.  

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the UK and data from this new report shows that nearly half of the deaths related to deprivation are from lung cancer, where the death rate in the most deprived areas is almost three times that of the least deprived areas of the UK. 

Overweight and obesity is the second biggest cause of cancer (2015)***, and almost 4 in 10 people living in the most deprived areas of England are obese. Keeping a healthy weight can help to reduce the risk of 13 different types of cancer, but inequalities in access to outdoor space and food environment are extremely complex and people from lower income groups can face substantial challenges when it comes to living healthily.  

Differences in cancer care 

The report also highlights huge disparities in cancer care, with people living in more deprived areas more likely to be diagnosed late and offered less effective treatments.  

Diagnosing cancer early is essential to improving cancer outcomes, because spotting cancer at an early stage means that treatment is more likely to be successful. But our report shows that people in the most deprived areas of England are more likely to be diagnosed at the late stage for some cancer sites and are over 50% more likely to be diagnosed with cancer through presenting with symptoms as an emergency.  

“People from more deprived areas are being diagnosed too late. Improving access to NHS services through funding and innovation will be vital, so that everyone gets the care they deserve,” said Walker. 

Cancer screening is an important tool in the early diagnosis of cancer, but socioeconomic factors can also lead to differences in screening uptake. Data from our report showed that bowel screening participation is around a quarter lower in the most deprived parts of England.  

People living in the most deprived areas of England are also more likely to have to wait over 104 days to begin treatment after an urgent suspected cancer referral, falling into a group known as ‘long waiters’.