Early cancer diagnosis
Published
1. Main facts and figures
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in 2021, 54.4% of new cancer diagnoses in England were made early (at stage 1 or 2) – up from 52.3% in 2020
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the percentage of new cancer diagnoses made early was 56.4% for Asian people and 56.2% for black people – higher than the overall average for England
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the percentage was similar to the national average in the mixed (56.8%), white (54.2%) Chinese (55.9%) and ‘other’ (55.8%) ethnic groups
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data measures the percentage of new cases of cancer that were diagnosed at stage 1 or stage 2 (referred to here as ‘early stage’). You can read more about cancer stages on the NHS website.
The data only includes the following types of cancer:
- bladder
- breast
- colon
- Hodgkin lymphoma
- kidney
- larynx
- lung
- non-Hodgkin lymphoma
- oesophagus
- oropharynx
- oral cavity
- ovary
- pancreas
- prostate
- rectum
- skin melanoma
- testis
- uterus
Percentages are rounded to 1 decimal place.
Not included in the data
Data is not included if it is for a type of cancer where information is available for fewer than 70% of cases between 2018 and 2020.
The ethnic groups used in the data
Data is shown for 6 aggregated ethnic groups:
- Asian
- black
- Chinese
- mixed
- white
- 'other'
This means estimates are shown for these groups as a whole. This is because the number of people included in the data was too small to make any reliable conclusions about any of the 18 ethnic groups.
Ethnicity was not known for 4.9% of the patients with new cases of cancer in 2021. These patients are included in the estimates for all ethnic groups combined (‘All’).
Methodology
Increases in the early diagnosis of cancers between 2013 and 2021 may reflect both real improvements and better data quality. Comparisons between ethnic groups in the same year are more reliable than comparisons between different years.
In the data file
See Download the data for:
- unrounded estimates
- confidence intervals for each ethnic group – find out how we use confidence intervals to determine how reliable estimates are
- numerators and denominators for each ethnic group
- estimates for people whose ethnicity was not known
3. By ethnicity over time
| Ethnicity | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| All | 54.8 | 55.1 | 54.8 | 54.6 | 54.3 | 54.6 | 54.9 | 52.3 | 54.4 |
| Asian | 57.1 | 56.6 | 57.9 | 57.2 | 57.1 | 58.4 | 57.9 | 54.5 | 56.4 |
| Black | 55.4 | 58.1 | 56.3 | 55.5 | 57.8 | 57.9 | 57.5 | 54.4 | 56.2 |
| Chinese | 59.4 | 58.3 | 57.4 | 58.1 | 57.1 | 60.7 | 60.1 | 54.4 | 55.9 |
| Mixed | 58.4 | 53.5 | 56.3 | 58.2 | 55.0 | 55.0 | 56.8 | 53.3 | 56.8 |
| White | 54.7 | 54.9 | 54.4 | 54.3 | 54.1 | 54.1 | 54.4 | 52.1 | 54.2 |
| Other | 53.6 | 54.4 | 52.9 | 53.9 | 56.8 | 54.3 | 53.5 | 52.6 | 55.8 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV)
4. Data sources
Source
Public Health Outcomes Framework - Cancer
Type of data
Administrative data
Type of statistic
Official statistics
Publisher
Office for Health Improvement and Disparities
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
The data can be used to:
- provide information to a wide range of patient and professional groups
- plan services aimed at early detection and diagnosis of cancer
- inform cancer research and treatment
Monitoring the proportion of cancers diagnosed at an early stage can help assess improvements in cancer survival rates.
Specific public health interventions, such as screening programmes and information and education campaigns, aim to improve rates of early diagnosis.
5. Download the data
This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, time, geography, gender age, value, denominator, numerator, confidence intervals (upper and lower)