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Key Statistics for Prostate Cancer
Other than skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the United States.
How common is prostate cancer?
The American Cancer Society’s estimates for prostate cancer in the United States for 2024 are:
- About 299,010 new cases of prostate cancer
- About 35,250 deaths from prostate cancer
The number of prostate cancers diagnosed each year declined sharply from 2007 to 2014, coinciding with fewer men being screened because of changes in screening recommendations. Since 2014, however, the incidence rate has increased by 3% per year overall and by about 5% per year for advanced-stage prostate cancer.
Risk of getting prostate cancer
About 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime. But each man’s risk of prostate cancer can vary, based on his age, race/ethnicity, and other factors.
For example, prostate cancer is more likely to develop in older men. About 6 in 10 prostate cancers are diagnosed in men who are 65 or older, and it is rare in men under 40. The average age of men when they are first diagnosed is about 67.
Prostate cancer risk is also higher in African American men and in Caribbean men of African ancestry than in men of other races.
To learn more, see Risk Factors for Prostate Cancer.
Deaths from prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death in American men, behind only lung cancer. About 1 in 44 men will die of prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer can be a serious disease, but most men diagnosed with prostate cancer do not die from it. In fact, more than 3.3 million men in the United States who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point are still alive today.
The prostate cancer death rate declined by about half from 1993 to 2013, most likely due to earlier detection and advances in treatment. In recent years, the death rate has stabilized, likely reflecting the rise in cancers being found at an advanced stage.
For statistics related to survival, see Survival Rates for Prostate Cancer.
Visit our for more key statistics.
- Written by
- References
The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team
Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as editors and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.
American Cancer Society. Facts & Figures 2024. Atlanta: American Cancer Society; 2024.
National Cancer Institute. SEER Cancer Stat Facts: Prostate Cancer. Accessed at https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/prost.html on June 23, 2023.
National Cancer Institute. SEER*Explorer: An interactive website for SEER cancer statistics [Internet]. Surveillance Research Program; 2023 Apr 19. [updated: 2023 Jun 8; cited 2023 Jun 23]. Accessed at https://seer.cancer.gov/statistics-network/explorer/ on June 23, 2023.
Last Revised: January 19, 2024
American Cancer Society medical information is copyrighted material. For reprint requests, please see our Content Usage Policy.
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