Cancer death rates in the United States kept falling for both men and women from 2019 to 2023, driven largely by continued progress against lung cancer. The finding comes from the 2026 Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer.

Lung cancer death rates dropped 4.7 percent per year among men and 3.0 percent per year among women during the period, the CDC reported. From 2004 to 2023, lung cancer death rates fell 52 percent in men and 37 percent in women.

Researchers link the gains to a roughly 50 percent drop in smoking since the early 2000s, a two-thirds rise in early-stage lung cancer diagnoses, and a doubling of the five-year survival rate for the disease. Screening and improved treatments also played a part.

The report notes that overall cancer death rates have now fallen for more than 20 years. New cancer cases rose slightly from 2018 to 2022, driven by higher breast cancer rates in women and prostate cancer rates in men.

Despite the progress, lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death in the US. Researchers say keeping the gains will depend on early detection, timely diagnosis and access to modern treatment.