Uterine Cancer: Statistics

Approved by the Cancer.Net Editorial Board, 03/2023

ON THIS PAGE: You will find information about the estimated number of people who will be diagnosed with uterine cancer each year. You will also read general information on surviving the disease. Remember, survival rates depend on several factors, and no 2 people with cancer are the same. Use the menu to see other pages.

Every person is different, with different factors influencing their risk of being diagnosed with this cancer and the chance of recovery after a diagnosis. It is important to talk with your doctor about any questions you have around the general statistics provided below and what they may mean for you individually. The original sources for these statistics are provided at the bottom of this page.

How many people are diagnosed with uterine cancer?

In 2023, an estimated 66,200 people in the United States will be diagnosed with uterine, or endometrial, cancer. Uterine cancer is the fourth most common cancer for women in the United States. Worldwide, an estimated 417,367 people were diagnosed with uterine cancer in 2020.

More than 90% of uterine cancers occur in the endometrium. The number of people diagnosed with uterine cancer in the United States is rising by nearly 2% each year in women 49 and under and by 1% each year in older women. The average age of diagnosis for uterine cancer is 60. It is uncommon in people younger than 45.

An estimated 69% of people with uterine cancer are diagnosed at an early stage. This is largely due to the presence of abnormal vaginal bleeding as an early symptom, particularly when it occurs after menopause. Anyone with vaginal bleeding after menopause should tell their doctor.

It is estimated that 13,030 deaths from this disease will occur in the United States in 2023. It is the sixth most common cause of cancer death among women in the United States. Uterine cancer is more common in Black women than White women, and Black women are more likely to die from the disease. From 2016 to 2020, deaths from uterine cancer increased by close to 1% each year. In 2020, an estimated 97,370 people worldwide died from uterine cancer.

What is the survival rate for uterine cancer?

There are different types of statistics that can help doctors evaluate a person’s chance of recovery from uterine cancer. These are called survival statistics. A specific type of survival statistic is called the relative survival rate. It is often used to predict how having cancer may affect life expectancy. Relative survival rate looks at how likely people with uterine cancer are to survive for a certain amount of time after their initial diagnosis or start of treatment compared to the expected survival of similar people without this cancer.

Example: Here is an example to help explain what a relative survival rate means. Please note this is only an example and not specific to this type of cancer. Let’s assume that the 5-year relative survival rate for a specific type of cancer is 90%. “Percent” means how many out of 100. Imagine there are 1,000 people without cancer, and based on their age and other characteristics, you expect 900 of the 1,000 to be alive in 5 years. Also imagine there are another 1,000 people similar in age and other characteristics as the first 1,000, but they all have the specific type of cancer that has a 5-year survival rate of 90%. This means it is expected that 810 of the people with the specific cancer (90% of 900) will be alive in 5 years.

It is important to remember that statistics on the survival rates for people with uterine cancer are only an estimate. They cannot tell an individual person if cancer will or will not shorten their life. Instead, these statistics describe trends in groups of people previously diagnosed with the same disease, including specific stages of the disease.

The 5-year relative survival rate for uterine cancer in the United States is 81%. The 5-year relative survival rates for White and Black women with the disease are 84% and 64%, respectively. Black women are more likely to be diagnosed with more aggressive endometrial cancers with lower survival rates. Learn more about health disparities and cancer.

The relative survival rates for uterine cancer also vary based on several other factors. These include the stage and grade of cancer, a person’s age and general health, and how well the treatment plan works.

When uterine cancer is diagnosed, if it is still located only in the area where it started, it is called “localized,” and the 5-year relative survival rate is 95%. If the cancer has spread regionally, the 5-year relative survival rate is 70%. If the uterine cancer is diagnosed after the cancer has spread into other areas of the body, the 5-year relative survival rate is 18%. Approximately 44% of Black women are diagnosed with regional, distant, or unstaged uterine cancer, compared with 29% of White women. Unstaged means there is not enough information available to determine the stage of disease. The survival rate for Black women is lower at all stages of the disease.

Today in the United States, there are over 600,000 uterine cancer survivors.

Experts measure relative survival rate statistics for uterine cancer every 5 years. This means the estimate may not reflect the results of advancements in how uterine cancer is diagnosed or treated from the last 5 years. Talk with your doctor if you have any questions about this information. Learn more about understanding statistics.

Statistics adapted from the American Cancer Society's (ACS) publication, Cancer Facts & Figures 2023, the ACS website, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer website. (All sources accessed March 2023.)

The next section in this guide is Medical Illustrations. It offers drawings of body parts often affected by uterine cancer. Use the menu to choose a different section to read in this guide.