Published: 26 March 2026
Official statistics published by the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit (WCISU) at Public Health Wales show that by 2022 one-year cancer survival had recovered to pre-pandemic levels, after falling by four percentage points between 2019 and 2020.
The latest Cancer Survival in Wales, 2002-2022 report also shows that for people diagnosed with cancer in Wales during 2018 to 2022, 75 per cent survived one year from diagnosis and 60 per cent survived five years from diagnosis, after accounting for other causes of death.
This represents a continuation of the levelling off seen in data from the 2015-19 period following a steady improvement in survival from the early 2000s.
The report examines data on all cancers apart from non-melanoma skin cancer, and it also shows the impact of deprivation on cancer survival, with data indicating that cancer survival worsens with increasing deprivation. In the 2018-2022 period, there was a 12.2 percentage point gap in five-year survival between the most deprived and least deprived areas in Wales.
The widest deprivation gap in the most common cancers was in colorectal cancer, which had narrowed up to the 2017-2021 period but has since widened again. The gap looks to be driven by improving five-year survival rates in the least deprived areas, while there was little change in the most deprived.
This release of statistics shows for the first time the detail of survival on the stage of diagnosis by area deprivation. Five-year survival rates for cancers diagnosed at a late stage (stage three and four) stood at 41.4 per cent in the least deprived areas, compared with 31.5 per cent in the most deprived areas. However, the pattern varied between different types of cancer. For colorectal and lung cancers, some measures of survival show significant deprivation gaps for late-stage, but not early-stage diagnosis, with no clear relationship between survival by stage at diagnosis and area deprivation in prostate and female breast cancers.
These most recent figures suggest that the disruption to screening programmes, GP referral and diagnostics during the pandemic, may have affected stage at diagnosis differently across area deprivation groups.
Professor Dyfed Wyn Huws, Director of the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit at Public Health Wales, said:
“It is encouraging to see that overall cancer survival one year from diagnosis has recovered to pre-pandemic levels of around 75 per cent.
“However, despite this recovery in survival just after the pandemic, averages suggest that overall, one-year and five-year cancer survival by 2022 was much the same as it was in the middle of the last decade. The long-standing gaps in five-year survival between the most and least deprived areas of Wales had remained largely unchanged over the last decade, then widened further after the pandemic.
“Diagnosing cancer at an early stage increases the chances of survival. It’s important to seek help straight away from your GP if you are worried about any troubling symptoms, such as losing weight without trying to do so, blood in your poo, a new cough that won’t go away, or a lump in your breast or somewhere else on your body that you’re not sure about, for example. That way, you can get diagnosed or reassured sooner rather than later and start treatment that can be effective.
“Screening is an effective way of detecting cancer early, before symptoms, and starting treatment as soon as possible, for certain age-groups, so I would urge people to take up offers of screening from Breast Test Wales, Bowel Screening Wales and Cervical Screening Wales to ensure they have the best chance of survival for longer periods. Bowel and cervical screening can also prevent cancer before it develops, in some cases. In addition, some cancers like cervical cancer, and some mouth and throat cancers can be prevented with the HPV vaccination, which is usually given in school year eight.”
“We know that up to four in ten cancers can be prevented, by making changes such as quitting smoking, maintaining a healthy weight and reducing alcohol intake. There are a number of free support services available in Wales to help people make those changes, such as Help Me Quit and Healthy Weight Healthy You.