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Public health researchers report that the number of Canadians under 50 dying from nine of the top 10 most deadly cancers has been trending down since the turn of the century. In a study published in August 2026 in JAMA Network Ope<\/a><\/em>n, epidemiologists looked back at cancer deaths over 24 years to see how Canucks are doing. They found that Canadians under 50 are less likely to die from lung cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and melanoma than ever, but worryingly, colorectal cancer deaths are on the rise.<\/p>\n In this study, Canadian cancer epidemiologists reviewed anonymized cancer mortality records from across the country between 2000 and 2024. The records were kept by Statistics Canada, the country\u2019s national office of statistics. The team looked at deaths from the ten cancers with the highest mortality rates throughout the 25-year period to see whether cancer prevention efforts, new screening methods and new treatments have helped to reduce cancer mortality.<\/p>\n Based on Statistics Canada numbers, the ten most deadly cancers in Canadians aged between 20 and 49 are: breast cancer, colorectal AKA bowel cancer, brain cancer, lung and bronches cancer, pancreatic cancer, cervical cancer, stomach cancer, melanoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and leukaemia. The biggest successes for Canadians were in lung cancer, melanoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Lung cancer deaths have plummeted by an average of 6.2% every year since 2000, non-Hodgkin lymphoma deaths have dropped 4.5% each year and melanoma deaths have slowed by 3.6%. In contrast, colorectal cancer deaths have risen in adults between 20 and 49, at a rate of 1.1% each year since the millennium.<\/p>\n As we get into the figures, you will notice that we aren\u2019t looking at absolute numbers or straight-up percentages. The population of Canada has grown by 34% over the last 25 years. In 2000 there were 14\u00a0million Canadians between 20 and 49. By 2025 this number was around 17\u00a0million\u2009\u2013\u2009an increase of 20%. This means we can\u2019t use the absolute numbers to figure out whether the death rates are changing.<\/p>\n When there are 20% more people, the number of cancer deaths might look higher because there are simply more deaths to record overall. In 2024 there were around 326,800 deaths from all causes vs 218,100 in 2000 according to official statistics.<\/p>\n As a result, we need to view at the numbers in terms of deaths per 100,000 people and examine the rate of change in deaths per 100,000, rather than just give an absolute percentage change in deaths. The researchers chose to present the percentage change each year because it tells us how fast the decline in deaths has been.<\/p>\n An annual percentage change looks very small, but adds up to a big number over 25 years. Even a 1% change in the annual number of deaths per 100,000 people adds up to a lot over a quarter of a century.<\/p>\n So what is the cancer mortality landscape like in the Great White North?<\/p>\n Between 2000 and 2024, 85,439 Canadians aged between 20 and 49 died from cancer, and 70% of those deaths were related to the ten leading cancers: breast cancer,<\/a> colorectal AKA bowel cancer, brain cancer, lung and bronches cancer<\/a>, pancreatic cancer, cervical cancer, stomach cancer, melanoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and leukaemia. The team dug into Statistics Canada data to find out how mortality due to those ten cancers has changed between 2000 and 2024.<\/p>\n The researchers discovered that over that 25-year period, deaths from breast cancer<\/a>, lung cancer<\/a>, leukaemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and skin melanoma have been dropping.<\/p>\n Stomach cancer<\/a> and brain cancer <\/a>deaths are showing slower changes, but are still trending down. Disappointingly, deaths from cervical cancer and pancreatic cancer have remained pretty stable. Only deaths from colorectal cancer have increased.<\/p>\n The biggest success story here is for lung cancer and breast cancer death rates. In 2024 only 190 people per 100,000 died from lung and bronchus cancer, compared to 778 in 2000. That\u2019s a drop of 75%. Lung cancer showed the fastest device of the ten cancers, at an average rate of 6.3% year on year. Breast cancer death rates have also fallen by 27% from 637 per 100,000 in 2000 to 464 in 2024.<\/p>\n In contrast colorectal cancer deaths are now 47% higher than they were in 2000, rising from 300 per 100,000 to 464. The Canadian Cancer Society predicts that 9,200 people in Canada will die from colorectal cancer this year.<\/p>\n Lung cancer deaths in Canadians aged between 20 and 49 have fallen around 6.2% every year since 2000, going from 778 per 100,000 people to just 190 per 100,000 in 2024. The authors attribute this mostly to the decline in tobacco smoking. In recent years the decrease has slowed to 3.9%. This might be because smoking rates dropped dramatically in the early 2000s, but lung cancers caused by factors other than smoking haven\u2019t decreased. The most common cause of lung cancer in people who don\u2019t smoke is environmental radiation, for example from radon gas.<\/p>\n Breast cancer deaths in women under 50 have been steadily decreasing by 1.9% per year since 2000. While this might not sound huge, breast cancer has the second-highest mortality rate of cancers for women. This 1.9% year on year decline affected a huge number of women. In 2024 69,000 fewer women died from breast cancer than otherwise would have.<\/p>\n The number of younger adult Canadians who died from leukaemia<\/a> in 2024 dropped from 222 per 100,000 in 2000 to 133 per 100,000 in 2024. On average the number of deaths declined by 2.4% each year, adding up to a 41% drop in leukaemia mortality.<\/p>\n In 2000 238 per 100,000 people between 20 and 49 died from non-Hodgkin lymphoma <\/a>in Canada. By 2024 this had fallen 70% to just 86 deaths per 100,000 Canadians. On average the number of deaths has declined by 4.5% every year since 2000.<\/p>\n Skin melanoma deaths have also rapidly fallen over the last 25 years. At first the annual reduction was relatively low, but in 2012 something changed and since then melanoma deaths have fallen 6.2% on average every year. That year, a new class of immunotherapy drugs<\/a> that improved melanoma survival rates dramatically. In 2000 142 per 100, 000 young Canadians died from melanoma, but in 2024, only 68 per 100,000 died.<\/p>\n Brain cancer deaths in the 20\u201349 population have fallen 1% year on year since 2000. In 2024, mortality rates of brain cancer had fallen to 261 per 100,000 from 312 per 100,000 in 2000. That\u2019s a 17% reduction.<\/p>\n Stomach cancer mortality has steadily decreased by 1.6% each year from 133 per 100,000 younger Canadians to 118 per 100,000 in 2024, an overall 12% decrease in the number of deaths per 100,000.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, mortality rates for cervical cancer and pancreatic cancer have not declined. Both of these cancers are hard to detect and are often diagnosed too late\u2009\u2013\u2009especially in young people. The good news is that things might be about to change for both cervical cancer and pancreatic cancer.<\/p>\n One of the biggest challenges in cervical cancer prevention in women over 30 is detection. A new generation of home screening tests that look for HPV virus instead of cellular changes in the cervix is rolling out in various Canadian provinces. Giving women a way to collect samples at home and to send them to the screening labs could improve uptake. Women currently under 30 are the first generation to have been vaccinated against the HPV virus that causes the majority of cancers of the cervix. Women are still being diagnosed with early stages of cervical cancer, but so far, few women under 30 have died from cervical cancer in countries with a vaccination program<\/a>. This could be a sign that over the next 20 years we will see a precipitous drop in cervical cancer mortality for women under 50.<\/p>\n Pancreatic cancer is about to get a shot in the arm too. Right now clinical trials are under way to see whether a vaccine could help our immune systems to attack pancreatic cancers more effectively than current treatments.<\/p>\n Colorectal cancer is now the second most deadly form of cancer, globally. In Canadians between 20 and 49, deaths from colorectal cancer have increased <\/a>by 1.1% every year since 2000. This has been a slow and steady increase with no sudden accelerations, providing few clues as to what might be causing the increase.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t a situation where the proportion of cancer deaths from colorectal cancer has increased because the number of deaths from the other cancers has gone down. The number of people per 100,000 between 20 and 49 who died from colorectal cancer in 2024 was 47% higher than in 2000.<\/p>\n These days Canadians don\u2019t need to get a colonoscopy as their first line of screening<\/a>. Many provinces have adopted FIT screening<\/a>. This is an easy at home test that allows you to send a sample to the testing lab. If they think you might be at risk, you will be called in for further testing to rule out colorectal cancer. Screening is supposed to start at 45, but there is a case to be made that it should start earlier given the increasing incidence of the disease. The Canadian Cancer Statistics Advisory Committee predicts that 25,300 Canadians will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer this year and that it will be responsible for 10% of all cancer deaths in Canada.<\/p>\nStruggling With Statistics?<\/h2>\n
A Picture of Canadian Cancer Death Rates<\/h2>\n
Zooming in on the numbers\u2009\u2013 The Big Changes<\/h2>\n
A Close Up View<\/h2>\n
Colorectal Cancer Rates Are Increasing<\/h2>\n
Source<\/h2>\n