For the report, “Cancer statistics for African American and Black people, 2025,” researchers analyzed the most recent cancer data from the National Cancer Institute and the CDC.
Here are five notes from the report:
- Researchers estimate there will be about 248,470 new cancer cases and 73,240 cancer deaths among Black individuals in the U.S. in 2025.
- After heart disease, cancer is the second-leading cause of death for Black individuals.
Black men have a 16% higher cancer mortality rate and 4% higher incidence rate compared to white men. Black men have a 67% higher prostate cancer incidence rate and a more than twice as high mortality rate compared to white men.
Black women have a 10% higher cancer mortality rate and a 9% lower incidence rate compared to white women. Black women have a 38% higher likelihood of dying from breast cancer and 5% lower likelihood of being diagnosed, compared to white women.
Uterine corpus cancer incidence and mortality have continued to increase among Black women by 2% every year.
- The most common for cancer diagnoses in 2025 will be prostate, breast, lung and colorectal, according to the report. These sites will account for 58% of all new cancers diagnosed among the Black population in 2025.
- Between 1991 and 2022, the cancer death rate has declined more among Black men and women at 49% and 33%, respectively, compared to white men and women at 36% and 26%, respectively.
- “The causes of ongoing disparities are multifactorial, but largely stem from inequalities in the social determinants of health that trace back to structural racism,” the report authors wrote. “Increasing diversity in clinical trials, enhancing provider education, and implementing financial incentives to ensure equitable care across the cancer care continuum would help close these gaps.”