More people are surviving cancer for at least five years after being diagnosed, the American Cancer Society reported on Tuesday.

According to the group’s annual report, today about 70% of cancer patients diagnosed between 2015 and 2021 are still alive five years later, compared to the mid-1990s when the number was 63%.

Survival has improved even for high-mortality cancers and advanced diagnoses including myeloma, metastatic melanoma, liver cancer, metastatic rectal cancer, and regional and metastatic lung cancer, the data showed.

Despite notable improvements in survival, lung cancer remains the leading cancer-related death, causing more than twice as many deaths as any other cancer, it said.

“The cancer mortality rate continued to decline through 2023, averting 4.8 million deaths since 1991, largely because of smoking reductions, earlier detection, and improved treatment,” said the report.

However, the data shows that in 2026 alone, approximately over 2.1 million new cancer cases and 626,000 cancer deaths are projected to take place in the United States. (AA)