Why Britain is one of the worst places to get cancer in Europe - with among the lowest survival rates, long waits for treatment and tumours caught later than anyone else By Rosie Taylor for the Daily Mail Published: 20:54 EDT, 16 September 2024 | Updated: 20:54 EDT, 16 September 2024 e-mail View comments It’s a worrying trend that shows no sign of abating: cancer rates across the UK are on the rise, having shot up by 13 per cent in the past 25 years. More worrying still is that, according to Cancer Research UK, the biggest rise is among the under-50s, among whom cases rose by 24 per cent between 1995 and 2019. This isn’t solely a UK trend.
Across Europe, cancer rates among those of all ages have risen on average almost 50 per cent in the past two decades. In fact, despite forming less than a tenth of the world’s population, Europeans – around 750 million people – account for about a quarter of all global cancer cases. But while the incidence of cancer seems to be a problem shared – with the rise largely due to ageing populations and increasingly unhealthy lifestyles – the fate of those who develop cancer varies greatly from country to country.
A Good Health investigation has found that the UK ranks as one of the poorest performers compared with its continental neighbours A Good Health investigation has found that the UK – frequently dubbed the ‘sick man of Europe’ – ranks as one of the poorest performers compared with its continental neighbours, with.