Cancer research statistics show two connected realities. Cancer remains a substantial health burden in the United States and worldwide, while public research funding supports a large network of investigators, grants, contracts, and designated cancer centers. The figures below describe funding and obligations in fiscal year 2024, U.S. cancer estimates for 2024, and the global cancer burden measured in 2022. Together, they provide context for patients, families, and caregivers who depend on progress in prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and supportive care.
Contents
- U.S. cancer burden in 2024
- Global cancer burden in 2022
- NCI funding in fiscal year 2024
- How NCI funding was distributed
- Cancer centers and their national network
- Trends in funding and cancer diagnoses
U.S. cancer burden in 2024
The American Cancer Society projected more than 2 million new cancer cases in the United States in 2024. Its projection for cancer deaths was 611,720. Expressed as a daily average by the ACS, that death estimate was about 1,680 deaths per day. These are projections for the United States in 2024, not a count of cases or deaths already observed in a later period.
The ACS also estimated that at least 42% of new U.S. cancers in 2024—about 840,000 cases—were potentially avoidable. Smoking was estimated to cause 19% of U.S. cancers in 2024 and contributed to that avoidable-case total. The figures identify a large prevention opportunity, but they do not mean that every individual case could have been prevented.
Cancer diagnoses are not evenly distributed across age groups. Adults age 65 and older represented 61% of cancer diagnoses in 1995, compared with 58% during 2019 to 2020, according to a 2024 ACS news story. Over the same comparison, the proportion of diagnoses among people under age 50 fell from 15% to 12%.
The concentration of cases also differs by sex. In men, the three most common cancers accounted for 48% of all estimated 2024 cases. In women, the three most common cancers accounted for almost 51% of all estimated 2024 cases. These shares describe the distribution of estimated cases, not the share of cancer deaths or the risk for an individual.
For caregivers, the national totals matter because every diagnosis can affect a household’s daily routines, work, transportation, finances, and need for practical and emotional support. The statistics do not measure caregiver numbers or hours of care, but they show the scale of the population moving through cancer treatment and survivorship systems.
Global cancer burden in 2022
The International Agency for Research on Cancer reported 20 million new cancer cases and 9.7 million cancer deaths worldwide in 2022. Those figures refer to the global burden measured for 2022, rather than a U.S.-only estimate or a forecast for 2024.
Lung cancer caused almost 2.5 million new cases worldwide in 2022, representing 12.4% of all cancers. Breast cancer represented 11.6% of global cancers in 2022, while colorectal cancer represented 9.6%.
The leading categories illustrate why cancer research must address more than one disease. Research priorities can involve prevention, screening, earlier diagnosis, treatment effectiveness, recurrence, quality of life, and support during and after treatment. For caregivers, the global figures also underscore that cancer care needs vary across health systems and communities, even when families face similar demands at home.
| Measure | Place and period | Reported figure |
|---|---|---|
| New cancer cases | Worldwide, 2022 | 20 million |
| Cancer deaths | Worldwide, 2022 | 9.7 million |
| New lung cancer cases | Worldwide, 2022 | Almost 2.5 million |
| Lung cancer share | Worldwide, 2022 | 12.4% |
| Breast cancer share | Worldwide, 2022 | 11.6% |
| Colorectal cancer share | Worldwide, 2022 | 9.6% |
NCI funding in fiscal year 2024
The National Cancer Institute’s 2024 Budget Fact Book reported total NCI obligations of $7,220,916,403 in fiscal year 2024. The same source reported $7.2 billion in fiscal year 2024 funds available to NCI, including $50 million for Cancer Control through the Cancer Moonshot Initiative (CCDI) and $28 million for STAR Act activities. “Funds available” and “obligations” are different budget measures and should not be treated as interchangeable totals.
NCI research project grants totaled $3,129,796,011 in fiscal year 2024. The Budget Fact Book also described those obligations as $3,129.8 million, nearly half of the total NCI budget line shown in its funding-trends table. NCI extramural funding totaled $5,350,661,389 in fiscal year 2024.
The extramural total includes support outside the NCI’s intramural research program. Grants accounted for 82.8% of NCI extramural funding in fiscal year 2024, while contracts accounted for 17.2%. NCI R&D contracts totaled $888,211,673 in that fiscal year.
The Budget Fact Book reported $1,104.4 million in NCI intramural research obligations in fiscal year 2024. It also reported $495.1 million for NCI cancer centers, $302.9 million for clinical cooperative groups, $137.6 million for specialized centers, $113.0 million for SPOREs, and $936.0 million for other mechanisms.
The Cancer Moonshot authorization totaled $1.8 billion across 2017 to 2023, according to NCI’s fiscal year 2024 Cancer Moonshot information. This is a multi-year authorization covering 2017 through 2023 and should not be read as a fiscal year 2024 annual amount.
How NCI funding was distributed
The 2024 NCI Budget Fact Book’s extramural funding breakdown reported that research project grants represented 58.5% of NCI extramural grants. Cancer centers and SPOREs represented 11.3%, NRSA represented 1.7%, and other research grants represented 11.3%.
These percentages describe categories within the extramural grants breakdown. They are not percentages of all NCI obligations, and they should not be added to the separate 82.8% grant share without preserving the different denominators and labels.
The funding categories show several ways research can be organized. Research project grants support individual or collaborative projects. Cooperative groups can coordinate clinical research. Specialized centers and SPOREs focus resources around particular research structures. Other mechanisms capture additional forms of support that are not represented by the named categories.
From a caregiver-support perspective, the value of research funding is not limited to a single treatment result. Research can influence how cancer is detected, how treatment is delivered, how symptoms are managed, and how people live with or beyond cancer. The supplied NCI figures quantify financial commitments, but they do not quantify the number of caregiver programs, caregiver participants, or patient outcomes produced by each funding category.
Cancer centers and their national network
NCI’s overview and mission information says that NCI supports 73 NCI-Designated Cancer Centers and more than 5,000 grantees. A 2024 Office of Cancer Centers page described a network of 74 centers across 37 states and the District of Columbia. Because the two source statements use different labels and counts, both are retained here with their source context rather than combined into one number.
The Office of Cancer Centers page listed 58 comprehensive centers, 8 clinical centers, and 7 basic centers in 2024. It also said the network spans 37 states plus the District of Columbia. The 2024 NCI Budget Fact Book’s cancer-center section listed 80 cancer center grants in fiscal year 2024, including 72 P30 core grants and 8 planning grants, or P20s.
The NCI cancer center portfolio totaled $352,362 thousand in fiscal year 2024. The same source’s state table listed Alabama with one comprehensive core grant worth $6.308 million and Arizona with one comprehensive core grant worth $3.937 million. It listed Stanford University with one comprehensive core grant worth $4.496 million, UCSF with one worth $8.130 million, and City of Hope with one worth $4.316 million.
California’s cancer center entries included $6.0 million for UCLA and $8.13 million for UCSF in fiscal year 2024. The state table shown on the NCI page included 12 listed NCI-designated cancer center grantees in California. The individual state and institution figures are reported as presented; they are not used here to calculate a statewide total.
Trends in funding and cancer diagnoses
NCI total obligations rose from $5,927.6 million in 2018 to $7,220.9 million in 2024, according to the 2024 Budget Fact Book’s funding-trends data. NCI cancer-center funding rose from $331.4 million in 2018 to $495.1 million in 2024. Intramural research funding rose from $945.5 million in 2018 to $1,104.4 million in 2024.
| NCI measure | 2018 | 2024 | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total obligations | $5,927.6 million | $7,220.9 million | Fiscal years |
| Cancer centers funding | $331.4 million | $495.1 million | Fiscal years |
| Intramural research funding | $945.5 million | $1,104.4 million | Fiscal years |
The NCI Budget Fact Book said funds available to NCI increased 1.7% and $120 million from the previous fiscal year. It also reported that fiscal year 2023 NCI funds available reached $7.2 billion, including $216 million in Cures Act funding. The fiscal year 2023 figure is a prior-year budget measure, while the fiscal year 2024 funds-available figure includes different named activities.
The combination of long-term funding trends and current cancer burden estimates helps explain why research capacity matters to families. More than 2 million projected U.S. cases in 2024, 611,720 projected U.S. deaths, and 20 million new global cases in 2022 represent populations whose care can involve diagnosis, treatment, recovery, recurrence, or end-of-life support. The NCI funding figures describe the research infrastructure intended to improve that continuum; they do not by themselves establish that any particular funding level caused a specific change in cancer outcomes.