Cancer mortality
Annual update to 2022

About this release

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) provides information on deaths from cancer in Scotland, including registrations up to the 31 December 2022. Within this publication, data is provided on both the number of deaths caused by cancer (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) and the overall risk of dying from the disease within a population.

Main points

• In 2022 the European Standardised Rate (EASR), or the risk of dying from cancer in Scotland, decreased by 11.1% compared to 2013 (from 333.7 to 296.8 per 100,000 population respectively).
• However, despite this decline in risk, the number of deaths due to cancer has increased by 3.2% (to 16,265 from 15,764 in 2013). This largely reflects an increase in the proportion of older age groups within the population, and the fact that cancer is more common among older people.

Line chart shows trends in number and EASR rate in cancer mortality from 1998 to 2022, for all cancers excluding non-melanoma skin cancer broken down by sex. The number of male deaths has been steadily increasing from 7,420 in 1998; 7,931 in 2012; to 8,453 in 2022. The number of female deaths has been steadily increasing from 7,288 in 1998; 7,856 in 2012; to 7,812 in 2022. Male EASR mortality rate (per 100,000 population) was 458.4 in 1998, picked at 464.5 in 2001, and continued to decrease to 392.8 in 2012 and 341.4 in 2022. Female EASR mortality rate (per 100,000 population) in was 299.4 in 1998 and steadily decreased to 285.9 in 2012, and 252.3 in 2022.

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Cancer mortality in Scotland, 1998 2022. Number of deaths and age-adjusted rates by sex

• Lung, colorectal (bowel), prostate and breast cancers together account for 46% of all cancer deaths in Scotland.
• 1 in 4 cancer deaths is due to lung cancer (24%). Most of these could be avoided by eliminating smoking. Since 2012, the risk of dying from lung cancer has fallen by a fifth (EASR decreased by 20.5%, from 88.6 to 70.4 per 100,000 population in 2022), reflecting success in reducing smoking prevalence over time.
• While overall cancer death rates have declined in both men and women since 2012, certain cancer types have shown notable increases.
  • In men, liver cancer deaths have risen by 15%.
  • Among women, liver cancer deaths have increased by 20%, and uterine cancer deaths have gone up by 21% over the same period.
• Nearly half (49%) of liver cancer cases are preventable through lifestyle changes such as reducing obesity, smoking, alcohol consumption, and preventing viral liver infections.

Background

This publication uses death registration data supplied by National Records of Scotland (NRS). This release includes information broken down by age group, sex, NHS Board and regional cancer network. Summary tables and charts on cancer incidence and mortality by SIMD deprivation quintile are also updated for 28 types of cancer. When using this publication, it is more informative to examine trends in mortality over a number of years, rather than focussing on a single year of mortality. In the case of rare cancers, striking changes from one year to the next are likely to reflect random fluctuation caused by small numbers of deaths and may be misleading.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be Winter 2025.