Breast Cancer Statistics

Who gets breast cancer?

For women in the United States, breast cancer is the most common cancer occurring in women (except for non-melanoma skin cancer), and the second most common cause of death from cancer (after lung cancer).  About 1 in 8 women in this country will develop breast cancer at some time during her life.

The American Cancer Society estimates that, in 2012, an estimated 226,000 women will be diagnosed with some form of breast cancer, and nearly 40,000 will die of it.  Men develop breast cancer too, but far less often than women.  Less than 1% of all breast cancers occur in men.  The American Cancer Society estimates that 2,000 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year in the U.S., and 450 will die of it.

From 1998 through 2007, breast cancer incidence in the United States fell by 2% per year. 

More than 2.5 million breast cancer survivors live in the United States.  This number continues to increase, because death rates from breast cancer are decreasing as a result of better screening, diagnosis and treatment.