Cancer in Northern Ireland: Incidence rises, survival Improves
Queen’s University Belfast’s Northern Ireland Cancer Registry (NICR) has published comprehensive data on cancer in Northern Ireland for 1993–2022, detailing trends in diagnosis, incidence, stage at diagnosis, survival, and prevalence.
It found that new cancer diagnoses continue to climb, driven by an ageing population and increasing incidence in thyroid, liver, prostate, gallbladder, head and neck cancers.
According to the registry, 34.8% of new diagnosis occurred in those aged 75+, and approximately 50 children aged 0–14 are diagnosed per year.
By age 85, one in 2.3 people (2.1 of men, 2.5 of women) will develop cancer.
Survival rates are improving, but outcomes remain highly sensitive to the stage at detection—underscoring the importance of early diagnosis.
Socioeconomic factors heavily influence incidence patterns, highlighting stark health inequalities.
Deprivation was linked with a 12.4% higher incidence in the most deprived areas—and 5.9% lower incidence in the least deprived
Certain cancers (lung, liver, head & neck, cervical, oesophageal, stomach, kidney) had elevated rates in deprived areas, while melanoma and prostate cancer were more prevalent in affluent regions.
Nearly 74,000 individuals (33,425 men, 40,569 women) are now living with cancer, with breast and prostate cancers being the most common.
After breast cancer, lung and colorectal are the most common cancers affecting women, whilst in men, colorectal and lung are the most common cancers after prostate.
Annually from 2018 to 2022, 10,319 new cancers were diagnosed (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer, NMSC): 5,278 men and 5,041 women. Separately, cases of NMSC averaged 3,852 per year.