BCPB Home > Benchmarks > Rankings > Performance Indicator 18: Cancer Mortality

Performance Indicator 18: Cancer Mortality

Where BC Ranks, Provincial Comparison

Year

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

Rank

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

Performance Indicator Eighteen tracks the number of deaths from cancer. Lower mortality rates translate to better ranks. In 2004, approximately 158 people per 100,000 died from cancer in BC. This was the lowest rate in Canada, and 9.9 percent below the Canadian average of 174.

Cancer is a disease in which abnormal cells form in human organs or tissue and grow to form a tumor. The National Cancer Institute of Canada estimates that there were as many as 159,900 new cases of cancer and 72,700 cancer deaths in 2007.

Approximately 44 percent of men and 39 percent of women will develop cancer. Fully 28 percent of men and 24 percent of women will die of cancer. Three types of cancer account for over half of new cases in each sex: prostate, lung, and colorectal cancers in males, and breast, lung, and colorectal cancers in females. Smoking is responsible for about one quarter of potential years of life lost due to cancer.

Why It's Important
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in Canada. Two-thirds of all cancers are caused by a person's lifestyle, such as diet, physical activity, drinking and smoking habits.

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