Childhood cancer happens everywhere. Each year more than 400,000 children worldwide develop childhood cancer. In the United States, 15,000 are diagnosed. In all countries, childhood cancer is one of the leading causes of death for children ages 0-19—and in the United States it is the number one cause of death by disease.
Despite these facts, childhood cancer research is consistently underfunded.
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You can also view a kid-friendly infographic, “Did You Know? Childhood Cancer Facts For Kids”
Childhood Cancer Facts — United States
- Each year, an estimated 15,000 children are diagnosed with cancer in the United States.
- The average age at diagnosis for childhood cancer is 8. For adult cancers, that age is 67.
- Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in American children, resulting in the death of approximately 1,800 kids each year.
- There are approximately 500,000 childhood cancer survivors in the United States.
- In the United States, 85% of children diagnosed with cancer are alive at least five years after diagnosis. However, this is diagnosis dependent. Several types of childhood cancer have extremely low survival rates, including certain types of brain tumors and sarcomas.
- Survivorship continues to come at a cost: Children who were treated for cancer are twice as likely to suffer chronic health conditions later in life versus children without a history of cancer. 60% of childhood cancer survivors develop one or more chronic health conditions in their lifetime and over 20% experience a life-threatening or severe complication in adulthood.
- While the causes of childhood cancer are not totally understood, 18% of childhood cancers are driven by genetic alterations that pre-dispose children to cancer.
Childhood Cancer Facts — Global Overview
- Every year, over 400,000 new children are develop cancer.
- 90% of these cases happen in low- and middle-income countries. In these countries, that often lack public health infrastructure, childhood cancer survival rates can range from 20-30% for all childhood cancer types. In the United States, overall 5-year survival rates are 85%.
- Globally, cancer stole 11.5 million years of healthy life away from children in 2017. This total could be lower, if all children received adequate care.
Sources
- National Center for Biotechnology Information
- National Cancer Institute
- World Health Organization
- Lancet
Updated April 2026
