Lead
In a landmark shift for U.S. cancer outcomes, seven in 10 people diagnosed with cancer now survive at least five years, according to the American Cancer Society’s latest report. The 70% five‑year survival rate is calculated from diagnoses made between 2015 and 2021 and was published Tuesday in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. That marks a steady climb from roughly 50% in the 1970s and about 63% in the mid‑1990s, reflecting decades of advances in detection, treatment and prevention. The report’s authors credit improved therapies, earlier diagnosis and reduced tobacco use for most of the gains.
Key Takeaways
- The five‑year survival rate for cancers diagnosed 2015–2021 is 70%, up from ~63% in the mid‑1990s and ~50% in the 1970s.
- The American Cancer Society estimates 4.8 million cancer deaths were averted from 1991 through 2023 due largely to better treatment, screening and falling smoking rates.
- Multiple myeloma five‑year survival rose to 62% from 32% in the mid‑1990s; myeloma remains about twice as common in Black Americans as in white Americans.
- Regional lung cancer five‑year survival improved to 37% from 20% in the mid‑1990s, reflecting targeted therapies and immunotherapies.
- The ACS projects more than 2.1 million new cancer diagnoses and roughly 626,000 cancer deaths in the U.S. this year.
- Researchers warn of widening disparities: Native American and Black communities carry higher cancer burdens and face access gaps in prevention and treatment.
- An analysis cited by the report’s authors found a 31% decline in cancer research grant funding in the first three months of 2025 versus the same period in 2024, raising concerns about future progress.
Background
The five‑year survival benchmark is widely used because the probability of recurrence for many cancers falls substantially if a patient remains cancer‑free through that window. Over the past five decades, improvements in surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, screening and risk‑factor reduction have each contributed to rising survival. Beginning in the 1990s and accelerating in the 2010s, molecularly targeted drugs and immunotherapies shifted some diagnoses from likely fatal to manageable chronic conditions for many patients. Public‑health gains — especially lower smoking prevalence — also drove substantial declines in deaths from cancers tied to tobacco.
Still, progress has been uneven across cancer types, age groups and communities. Some cancers show dramatic survival gains, while incidence for others has risen in younger populations; colorectal cancer is increasing under age 50, and overall breast cancer rates are rising among women. Social determinants, insurance coverage, and research investment shape who benefits from new diagnostics and therapies. The COVID‑19 pandemic disrupted screening programs, potentially delaying detection and altering stage at diagnosis for some patients.
Main Event
The American Cancer Society report, published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, aggregates registry and survival data to produce updated national estimates. Lead author Rebecca Siegel, senior scientific director of surveillance research at the ACS, said the findings reflect decades of translational research that turned laboratory discoveries into effective, widely used treatments. The ACS attributes the largest share of lives saved since 1991 to treatment improvements, earlier detection and less smoking.
Immunotherapy is highlighted in the report as a transformative advance. By harnessing the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells, immunotherapies have substantially extended survival for several cancers; ACS researchers cited myeloma as an example where five‑year survival more than doubled since the mid‑1990s. Targeted therapies that act on cancer‑specific genes or proteins were also singled out for delivering effective control with fewer off‑target toxicities.
Clinicians not involved in the report noted the same pattern. Dr. Christopher Flowers, head of cancer medicine at MD Anderson Cancer Center, emphasized that less toxic, targeted and immune‑based therapies allow patients to remain on treatment longer and receive multiple sequential options, improving long‑term outcomes. At the same time, surgeons and oncologists warned that rising obesity rates and pandemic‑era screening interruptions pose countervailing threats to future gains.
Analysis & Implications
The upward trend in five‑year survival has several implications. Clinically, the shift means more patients will live with chronic cancer control, increasing demand for long‑term survivorship care, rehabilitation, and management of treatment side effects. Health systems will need to scale follow‑up services and survivorship programs as prevalence of long‑term survivors grows.
From a research perspective, the gains underscore the value of sustained public and private investment in basic science, clinical trials, and translational pipelines. The ACS report’s estimate that 4.8 million deaths were prevented since 1991 points to the measurable returns on decades of funding; conversely, the reported 31% short‑term decline in some grant funding raises concerns about the continuity of that trajectory.
Policy and equity issues loom large. Disparities by race, geography and insurance status mean that aggregate survival rates can mask uneven benefits. The expiration of some Affordable Care Act subsidies and gaps in access to screening and novel drugs could widen these gaps if policy or coverage barriers are not addressed. Prevention also matters: obesity, now widespread in the U.S., is linked to rising rates of colorectal and certain breast cancers, and tackling it requires broad public‑health measures beyond oncology clinics.
Comparison & Data
| Measure | Mid‑1990s | 2015–2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Overall five‑year survival (U.S.) | 63% | 70% |
| Multiple myeloma five‑year survival | 32% | 62% |
| Regional lung cancer five‑year survival | 20% | 37% |
The table shows the relative shift in key survival measures between the mid‑1990s and the 2015–2021 period. Improvements are greatest in cancers where targeted and immune therapies have become standard. However, rising incidence in younger adults for some cancers and persistent disparities in mortality indicate that raw survival improvements do not equate to universal progress.
Reactions & Quotes
ACS researchers framed the report as a confirmation of long‑term investment paying off, while other clinicians pointed to remaining gaps in prevention and access.
“It takes decades for research to … develop these more effective treatments, and now we’re seeing the fruits of those investments,”
Rebecca Siegel, American Cancer Society
Siegel emphasized both the clinical advances and the policy vulnerabilities that could slow future gains, including funding shifts and coverage changes.
“Staying on treatment longer allows patients to live longer,”
Dr. Christopher Flowers, MD Anderson Cancer Center
Flowers explained that modern therapies’ lower toxicity enables patients to receive multiple lines of therapy, a key driver of improved survival.
“Our country has an epidemic of obesity, and cancers follow that,”
Dr. Clark Gamblin, Huntsman Cancer Institute
Gamblin warned that population‑level risk factors such as obesity threaten to blunt some of the clinical progress seen in survival statistics.
Unconfirmed
- Direct causal linkage between the recent reported decline in certain grant awards and immediate changes in patient outcomes remains unproven and will take years to manifest.
- The long‑term impact of COVID‑era screening disruptions on overall stage distribution and mortality is not fully observed; delayed effects may still appear.
- Projections about future survival gains assume continued access to new drugs and sustained research funding, which are not guaranteed.
Bottom Line
The rise to a 70% five‑year survival rate is a major public‑health achievement that reflects decades of scientific progress, improved screening, and behavioral change such as reduced smoking. Clinicians and patients are seeing concrete benefits from targeted therapies and immunotherapies that have converted many once‑fatal diagnoses into manageable conditions for longer periods.
Yet the headline masks ongoing challenges: rising incidence in younger adults for some cancers, the obesity epidemic, pandemic‑related screening gaps, and policy‑driven research and coverage uncertainties could all slow future advances. Maintaining and expanding equitable access to prevention, screening and the latest treatments — alongside steady research investment — will be essential to turn this milestone into sustained, inclusive progress.