The American Association for Cancer Research has released its annual Cancer Progress Report, detailing how research continues to drive progress against cancer. The report highlights how the overall cancer death rate in the United States has declined by 35% between 1991 and 2024 — resulting in 4.8 million fewer cancer deaths. The number of cancer survivors living in the U.S. has increased from about 3 million in the 1970s to 18.6 million in early 2025.
The report also highlights how research progress is contributing to the survival of people with advanced and metastatic cancers. For all cancers combined, the five-year relative survival rate for distant-stage disease has more than doubled over the past three decades, increasing from 17% in the mid-1990s to 36% from 2016 to 2022.
Survival for children with cancer has improved dramatically over the past half-century. Today, about 80% of children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer will survive at least five years — a transformation led in large part by advances in childhood leukemia, the most common pediatric cancer.
“But the overall statistic does not tell every child’s story,” said Joanne Lagmay, M.D., chief of the UF Division of Pediatric Hematology & Oncology. “Some children still cannot be cured with the treatments available today. Progress has also been profoundly uneven: while survival for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia now exceeds 90%, outcomes for certain aggressive brain tumors, high-risk or metastatic sarcomas, and relapsed cancers remain unacceptably poor. These are the children our current therapies are still leaving behind — and the reason we cannot be satisfied with how far we have come.”
The dramatic improvement in pediatric cancer survival over the past four decades also points to the importance of services to support cancer survivors, said Jordan Milner, M.D., a clinical assistant professor in the UF Division of Pediatric Hematology & Oncology who directs the Pediatric BMT and Cellular Therapy Program.
“With these outcomes, it’s crucial to enhance survivorship services and care for these healthy, yet historically medically complex patients,” Milner said. “While we love 80%, that is not the story for all patients, and we could not continue improving without grant funding, philanthropy support, and the research and care our team is committed to.”
The adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer story brings another challenge, Lagmay said. Cancer incidence among people ages 15 to 39 has risen by about one-third since the 1970s, and diagnoses continue to increase. Young people are also developing cancers more commonly associated with older adults, including breast and colorectal cancers.
“Because AYA cancers span both pediatric and adult oncology, these patients require research and therapies designed specifically for their biology and needs,” Lagmay said. “The only way to close these gaps is through research and discovery.”
“The only way to close these gaps is through research and discovery.” — Joanne Lagmay, M.D.
According to the AACR Cancer Progress Report, cancer incidence among people under the age of 50 increased by nearly 80% between 1990 and 2019 globally. Certain gastrointestinal cancers — such as colorectal, stomach and esophageal cancers — have contributed disproportionally to the rise in early-onset cancers, the report said. Researchers are investigating a variety of risk factors that may be driving these increases, including rising obesity rates, more sedentary lifestyles, greater exposure to environmental pollutants and shifts in dietary patterns.
Lagmay highlighted the importance of cancer research to address this growing concern. Funding an idea at its earliest stage allows scientists and clinicians to challenge what is possible, translate discoveries into clinical trials and create new options for patients, she said.
“Our goal is not simply to improve a statistic,” Lagmay said. “It’s to give every child, adolescent and young adult the chance to grow up, build a future and celebrate more birthdays. That is why this research matters — and why we must continue changing the future of how childhood and AYA cancers are cured.”
