Five Facts about Breast Cancer
Ella Day | October 2, 2025 | Feature | Medical Communications |Â Â Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Five Facts, Oncology, breast cancerÂ
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There are striking inequities in breast cancer burden regarding the Human Development Index (HDI), the United Nation’s measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development. In countries with a very high HDI, one in 12 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime and for one in 71 women it will be fatal. However, in countries with a low HDI; while only one in 27 women is diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime, one in 48 women will die from it.1
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Men can also develop breast cancer. Male diagnoses account for 0.5-1%, with around 400 new cases diagnosed each year in the UK.2
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Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women in the UK. Around one in seven women in the UK will be diagnosed during their lifetime.3
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Since the 1990s, breast cancer incidence rates have increased by around a sixth (18%) in the UK.4
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Breast cancer generally has high survival rates. In England, around 95% will survive their cancer for one year or more after diagnosis, and 75% will survive for ten years or more after diagnosis.5
- https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/breast-cancer; https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/human-development-index#/indicies/HDI
- Ibid; https://www.wcrf.org/preventing-cancer/cancer-statistics/uk-cancer-statistics/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21126970066&gbraid=0AAAAAD5ZFqcwqMG3QuR1W9DYBYIoTlOCT&gclid=Cj0KCQjwxL7GBhDXARIsAGOcmIOZ4I_v0vhxkdkd6JCs_zIHT__FFMR4a5q4Il3iN8ChxwnR5DxY3JoaApXLEALw_wcB#breast-cancer
- https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/breast-cancer-in-women/; https://www.breastcanceruk.org.uk/about-breast-cancer/facts-figures-and-qas/facts-and-figures/#:~:text=Global%20breast%20cancer%20statistics,England%20cancer%20registration%20statistics%202022%5D
- https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/breast-cancer#breastcs0
- https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/breast-cancer/survival
This article featured in: October 2025 – The Pharmafile Brief
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