Feb. 28, 2001- Cancer affects around 30% more women and 20% more men than it did 30 years ago, according to the Office of National Statistics.
The proportion of deaths caused by cancer has risen from 15% to 27% for men and from 16% to 23% for women since 1950, its says.
And one in three people will develop cancer at some point in their lifetime, with a quarter of the population dying from cancer, according to its survey, entitled Cancer Trends in England and Wales 1950-1999.
Despite the rise in incidence, mortality rates have remained stable over the last 50 years, with 250 men in every 100,000 and 180 women in every 100,000 dying from the disease.
Other key findings from report include:
:: Almost a million people alive in England and Wales have been diagnosed with cancer at some point. Some 600,000 are women, while 365,000 are men.
:: People living in deprived areas are at greater risk of developing and dying from smoking related cancers. If incidence rates in richer areas could be duplicated across the country, 16,600 fewer people would die each year.
:: Women living in affluent areas are at greater risk of developing breast cancer, while men in affluent areas run a higher risk of prostate cancer.
:: Survival rates of skin and testicular cancers have improved dramatically over the last 30 years. But those for cancers of the lung and pancreas have shown little change.
:: Lung, prostate and bowel cancers are the deadliest form for men, while women are at greatest risk from breast, lung and bowel cancers.
