The American Cancer Society projected that in 2008, approximately 745,180 men and 692,000 women would be diagnosed with cancer; approximately 294,120 cases in men and 271,530 in women would lead to death.
In 1930, approximately 114,186 total men and women died from cancer.
African-Americans are more likely than any other racial or ethnic group living in the United States to die from cancer. Asians/Pacific Islanders are the least likely.
Today, cancer death rates are higher in men than women in every racial and ethnic group.
For both men and women in 2008, the most deaths occurred from lung and bronchus cancer.
Cancer accounted for 22.8 percent of all deaths in the United States last year, second only to heart disease as the leading cause of death.
From 2001 to 2005, the median age of cancer diagnosis in the United States was 67 years of age.
