Cancer survival statistics
Cancers diagnosed 2018 to 2022, followed up to 2023

About this release

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) provides information on cancer survival in Scotland for individuals (aged 15-99) diagnosed during the period 2018 to 2022, with follow-up of individual vital status (if a person is alive or dead) to 31 December 2023. Data are presented for 27 cancer site groupings (plus all cancers combined) with breakdowns by sex and age, along with comparisons with previous five-year cohorts. Two measures of cancer survival are presented: Overall survival describes the actual overall chance of survival (from all causes of death), whereas net survival describes the chance of survival from the cancer itself, after adjusting for other (non-cancer) causes of death. Age-standardisation of net survival allows for a fair comparison between time periods, since it holds the age profile of the population constant, thereby accounting for Scotland's aging population.

Main points

Overall survival

For the five-year period 2018-22:

• Seven in ten individuals diagnosed with cancer survived for at least one year (70.9%).
• Approximately half survived for at least five years (49.2%).
• However, an individual’s chance of survival depends largely on which type of cancer they have, with 1-year survival ranging from 23.1% for pancreatic cancer to 97.9% for testicular cancer.
• Overall survival can also vary between males and females, for example:
  • 1-year survival for lung cancer was higher in females (44.8%) than males (37.1%).
  • 1-year survival for liver cancer was higher in males (43.1%) than females (33.7%). 

Age-standardised (AS) net survival

From 2013-17 to 2018-22:

• There was an increase in 1-year AS net survival for:
  • lung cancer (all persons, 40.8% to 45.7%)
  • pancreatic cancer (males only, 24.7% to 28.5%)
  • prostate cancer (96.5% to 97.6%)
• There was a decrease in 1-year AS net survival for:
  • head and neck cancer (all persons, 75.2% to 72.6%)
  • oesophageal cancer (females only, 46.6% to 42.7%)
  • leukaemias (all persons, from 77.9% to 75.4%)
• There was an increase in 5-year AS net survival for:
  • lung cancer (all persons, 16.4% to 19.9%)
  • prostate cancer (85.6% to 88.6%)
  • breast cancer (females, 85.3% to 86.7%)
• There was a decrease in 5-year AS net survival for:
  • leukaemias (all persons, 61.9% to 57.5%)
  • non-Hodgkin lymphomas (males, 68.0% to 64.1%)

Horizontal bar chart displaying age-standardised net survival probabilities (as percentages) for patients aged 15-99 years old diagnosed with one of 26 cancers during 2013 to 2017 or 2018 to 2022. The y-axis lists the cancer sites shown in the chart while the x-axis displays the survival scale from 0 to 100 percent. There are two separate panels of bars side-by-side showing results for 1-year and 5-year survival separately. For each cancer site and follow-up timepoint (1 versus 5 years) there are two paired bars, showing the estimates and their 95 percent confidence intervals. These pairs allow comparison of survival between 2013-2017 and 2018-2022.

Close

Figure 1: Age-standardised (AS) net survival at 1 and 5 years after diagnosis¹, for persons/relevant site-specific sex, diagnosed in 2013-17 versus 2018-22

1. Missing bars are cases for which AS net survival could not be estimated due to small numbers. 
2. Asterisks '*' indicate sites for which statistically significant differences were found.

In 2018-22, 1-year and 5-year AS net survival also varied between males and females, for example:

• 1-year AS net survival for bladder cancer was higher in males than females (75.8% vs. 58.0%).
• 5-year AS net survival for non-Hodgkin Lymphoma was higher in females than males (71.4% vs 64.1%).

Background

This publication uses two main measures of cancer survival: overall survival and age-standardised net survival. Age-standardised net survival is considered to be the best way of understanding outcomes due to cancer itself, rather than other factors that may affect mortality, such as age or mortality from other conditions and diseases. Overall survival does not take these factors into account and measures the chance of not dying from any cause. Note future updates will include analysis by socio-economic deprivation group (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation).

Further information

The next release of this publication will be in late 2026.