America's cancer crisis in numbers: the type most likely to get you depending on age, ethnicity and gender

It seems not a day goes by when we don't hear of an American struck down before their time with colon cancer. 

Cases of the condition in the US have risen by 15 percent over the past decade - said to be due to increasingly unhealthy lifestyles that impact the gut. 

However, new data that lays bare the true toll of different cancer types on American people shows the number affected by the disease remains surprisingly low. 

In fact, only eight percent of total cancer cases in the US are colorectal, according to the new extensive report on cancer diagnosis by Washington-based nonprofit USAFacts.

What's more, studies show only around four percent of all men and women in the US will develop colon cancer in their lifetime. 

The most common types in younger people are breast cancer (15 percent), thyroid (15 percent), testis (eight percent) and melanoma of the skin (seven percent). The remaining 55 percent is attributed to other types of cancer, including colorectal cancer, also known as bowel cancer

According to data from the CDC, new cancer cases rose almost 36.5 percent between 2000 and 2019. However, the age-adjusted incidence rate per 100,000 people fell a small amount, from 485.8 to 459.5 - representing a 5.4 percent decrease

The revelatory new analysis lays bare the extent of the US' cancer crisis - as annual diagnoses are found to have risen by 37 percent since 2019.

The data also details how likely a person may be to develop each type of the disease, depending on a host of factors like gender, age and socioeconomic background.

USAFacts used the latest official data to reveal that four types of cancer represented half of the 1.96 million new cancer cases in 2023: breast cancer (15 percent), prostate cancer (15 percent), lung and bronchus cancer (12 percent), colorectal cancers (eight percent). 

The other 50 percent was all other types. The same cancers, plus pancreatic, accounted for almost half of the more than 609,820 cancer deaths in 2023. Nearly half of the deaths were from lung and bronchus cancer (21 percent).

Colorectal cancer made up nine percent of the deaths, pancreatic cancer made up eight percent of the deaths and breast cancer seven percent. The remaining 55 percent of the deaths were due to other cancers.

Cancer rates vary by gender, and men have always been more likely to be diagnosed with cancer and die from the disease.

It is thought that heavier weight, greater inactivity, and higher alcohol consumption for men are some of the reasons for the disparity.

Four types of cancer represented half of the 1.96 million new cancer cases in 2023: breast cancer (15 percent), prostate cancer (15 percent), lung and bronchus cancer (12 percent), colorectal cancers (eight percent)

As of 2019, men were roughly 15 percent more likely to be diagnosed with cancer and 38 percent more likely to die from the disease than women.

The gap has gotten smaller since 2000, when men were 37 percent more likely to be diagnosed. 

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Prostate, lung, and colorectal cancers are the most types of cancer common for men, which were responsible for over half of new cancer cases and 46 percent of cancer deaths in 2023 among men.

For women, the most common cancers are estimated to be breast, lung, and colorectal cancers, which accounted for 55 percent of their new cancer cases and half of cancer deaths in 2023.

According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer will make up an estimated 29 percent of cancer cases in men, followed by lung and bronchus cancer at 11 percent of cases. 

Colorectal cancers are predicted to account for eight percent of new cancer cases for men.

For women, 32 percent of new cancer cases are predicted to be breast cancer, followed by lung and bronchus (12 percent) and colorectal (seven percent.

Age is the most indicative factor for cancer risk, according to USAFacts' report.

The older you are, the more likely you are to be diagnosed with cancer. 

The median age of cancer diagnosis is 66, and the median age of death is 72.

But patients can be diagnosed at any age, stories of young people with colorectal cancer have been particularly prevalent in the last few years, but there are four other types more commonly affecting people under the age of 40.

Cancers diagnosed in someone under 50 have risen nearly 80 percent since 1990, a 2023 study found. 

In 2019, there were 3.26 million new cancer diagnoses for under-50s, an increase of 79.1 per cent since 1990.

The older you are, the more likely you are to be diagnosed with cancer

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Experts have pointed to lifestyle factors, including poor diets, obesity, alcohol and tobacco use and physical inactivity as potential causes.

While colorectal cancer is estimated to make up 7.6 percent of all cases cancer this year, the most common types in younger people are breast cancer (15 percent), thyroid (15 percent), testis (eight percent) and melanoma of the skin (seven percent). 

The remaining 55 percent in young people is attributed to other types of cancer, including colorectal cancer, also known as bowel cancer.

Cancer rates also vary by ethnicity. Non-Hispanic White Americans have had the highest rates of new cancer diagnoses, followed by non-Hispanic Black Americans, the report said.

However, non-Hispanic Black Americans have the highest risk of cancer death. More Black men than White men have said they smoke, the CDC said, and Non-Hispanic Black Americans are more likely than other groups to be exposed to secondhand smoke.

Obesity is also prevalent among non-Hispanic Black adults. 

As of 2019, men (blue line) were roughly 15 percent more likely to be diagnosed with cancer and 38 percent more likely to die from the disease than women (pink line). The gap has gotten smaller since 2000, when men were 37 percent more likely to be diagnosed

Cancer rates have gone down between 2000 and 2019 for every ethnic group apart from American Indian/Alaska Native people, who saw close to a 35 percent increase in diagnoses

Non-Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islander Americans have the lowest risk of diagnosis and death from cancer.

Cancer rates have gone down between 2000 and 2019 for every ethnic group apart from American Indian/Alaska Native people, who saw close to a 35 percent increase in diagnoses.

Cancer incidence rates measures the number of newly diagnosed cases in a given population at a specific time, while annual cases is the number of people with the disease at any time during a year.

Incidence rates are helpful for determining the burden of cancer within a given population compared to another population, regardless of size. 

And while both overall cancer incidence and mortality rates are decreasing in America, experts have warned people should not become complacent.

'According to 2024 data from the American Cancer Society, the incidence of six of the most common cancers – namely those related to excess body weight, such as endometrial, liver, kidney, pancreas, colorectal and breast – are on the rise and may temper the declining mortality rate in the future,' Dr Brett Osborn, a Florida neurologist and longevity expert, told FoxNews.