Over 2 million new cases will be diagnosed, with specific types like thyroid cancer showing faster increases
Why are a growing number of young people under 50 being diagnosed with over a dozen forms of cancer around the world? This trend is especially worrying in women, according to statistics released in January 2025 by the American Cancer Society, which found that cancer incidence rates “in women under 50 are now 82% higher than their male counterparts, up from 51% in 2002.”
This nationwide concern is a Time magazine cover story, “The Race to Explain Why More Young Adults Are Getting Cancer,” which features MSK patients and experts.
Men and women in the prime of their lives are increasingly being diagnosed with serious cancers, including colorectal, breast, prostate, uterine, stomach (gastric), pancreatic, and more. One forecast predicts cancer for this age group will increase by 30% globally from 2019 to 2030.
“This is serious and worrisome,” says Shari Goldfarb, MD, breast oncologist and Director of MSK’s Young Women With Breast Cancer program.
According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), the estimated number of cancer cases and deaths in the U.S. for 2025 is:
- New Cases: 2,041,910
- Deaths: 618,120
Key trends in cancer incidence
Rising incidence among women and younger adults: One of the most notable findings from 2025 reports is that the cancer burden is shifting toward women and younger adults.
Since 2002, the incidence rate in women under 50 has increased significantly and is now 82% higher than in men of the same age.
This trend is largely driven by increases in breast and thyroid cancers.
Incidence rates for colorectal cancer have also increased among both men and women younger than 65.
Investigators were surprised they could detect cancer-derived mutations in the blood so much earlier, says lead study author Yuxuan Wang, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor of oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Three years earlier provides time for intervention. The tumors are likely to be much less advanced and more likely to be curable.”
To determine how early cancers could be detected prior to clinical signs or symptoms, Wang and colleagues assessed plasma samples that were collected for the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, a large National Institutes of Health-funded study to investigate risk factors for heart attack, stroke, heart failure and other cardiovascular diseases.
They used highly accurate and sensitive sequencing techniques to analyze blood samples from 26 participants in the ARIC study who were diagnosed with cancer within six months after sample collection, and 26 from similar participants who were not diagnosed with cancer.
Inequities in the Burden of Cancer in the United States
Despite overall progress against cancer, significant disparities persist among certain population groups in the United States, across the cancer continuum, linked to structural and socioeconomic disadvantages. Because of a long history of structural inequities and systemic injustices, certain segments of the US population continue to shoulder a disproportionate burden of adverse health conditions, including cancer. These unequal burdens have led researchers and public health experts to closely study cancer disparities.
Cancer disparities are one of the most pressing public health challenges in the United States. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) defines cancer disparities as adverse differences in cancer-related measures, such as number of new cases, number of deaths, cancer-related health complications, survivorship and quality of life after cancer treatment, screening rates, and cancer stage at diagnosis, that exist among certain population groups.
The AACR Cancer Disparities Progress Report 2024 (12)American Association for Cancer Research®. AACR Cancer Disparities Progress Report 2024. Accessed: June 14, 2025. highlights the disproportionate burden of cancer among US racial and ethnic minority groups and other medically underserved populations.
As one example, while non-Hispanic (NH) White individuals have the highest overall cancer incidence rate, NH Black individuals had the highest overall cancer mortality rate, followed by American Indian/Alaska Natives (AI/AN). Further, between 2015 and 2021, patients with cancer from all racial and ethnic minority groups had lower 5‐year relative survival rates (61.7 to 68.4 percent) than NH White individuals (70.8 percent) NCI Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program. NCI SEER*Explorer. Accessed: June 31, 2025.
