Cancer Registration Statistics, England, 2024

NDRS collects and collates data on both malignant neoplasms (commonly referred to as cancers) and on selected non-malignant neoplasms (pre-malignant and uncertain behaviour neoplasms occurring anywhere in the body, as well as benign tumours occurring in the brain and central nervous system). 

In total, there were 616,404 cancers diagnosed in people resident in England in 2024.  

Of the 616,404 cancers diagnosed in 2024, about 40% (242,830) were Basal Cell Carcinomas (BCCs) of skin and cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinomas (cSCCs) of skin. BCC and cSCC of the skin at standard skin sites are largely processed using a validated automated NDRS registration process to estimate incidence. This reflects the high volume of these cancers and the frequency with which people develop multiple primary tumours. As these cases are typically not individually registered, they are all excluded from the rest of the analysis in this section.  

There were 373,574 cancers excluding these BCCs and cSCCs of skin diagnosed in people resident in England in 2024. BCC and cSCC of the genitals are fully registered and remain included in the total of 373,574 cancers (excluding basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma of skin). Further detail on the inclusion and exclusion criteria for defining “All cancer excluding BCCs and cSCCs of skin” is outlined in the ‘NDRS All Cancers definitions’ document.

In addition to the 616,404 cancers, NDRS registered 64,949 neoplasms which are classified as non-malignant in the ICD-O3 coding system, including pre-malignant, and uncertain behaviour neoplasms occurring anywhere in the body, as well as benign tumours occurring in the brain and central nervous system. In total, NDRS registered 681,353 cancers and non-malignant neoplasms diagnosed in 2024. 

There was an increase in the number of cancers diagnosed in England, from 361,741 cancers (excluding BCC and cSCC) in 2023 to 373,574 in 2024. This is an increase of 3.3%. This is partly driven by an ageing population, but the age-gender standardised rates also increased from 2023 to 2024, from 652.6 per 100,000 to 663.2 per 100,000, an increase of 1.6%. 

More cancers continue to be diagnosed and registered for males (198,422) than females (175,152). Between 2023 and 2024, the number of all cancers diagnosed in England increased by 3.2% for males (from 192,249 to 198,422) and 3.4% for females (from 169,492 to 175,152). 

The understanding of how to define cancer has changed over time. NDRS primarily registers and reports using the ICD-O-3 coding system. NDRS historically used an older coding system ICD-10, which many other countries still use. The total number of cancers therefore depends on the definition of cancer. Compared to our headline 373,574 cancers, we registered 366,571 cancers in 2024 using the ICD-10 definition of C00-C97 excluding C44. 

The reasons for these differences are discussed in detail in the ‘NDRS All Cancers definitions’ document. To enable comparisons with international data, with mortality estimates and over a longer period of time (pre-2013), we additionally present counts defined solely in terms of ICD-10 coding in our publication.