Stomach Cancer: Statistics

Aprobado por la Junta Editorial de Cancer.Net, 08/2023

ON THIS PAGE: You will find information about the estimated number of people who will be diagnosed with stomach 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 stomach cancer?

In 2023, an estimated 26,500 (15,930 men and 10,570 women) in the United States will be diagnosed with stomach cancer. Worldwide, an estimated 1,089,103 people were diagnosed with the disease in 2020. Stomach cancer is the fifth most commonly diagnosed cancer in the world.

It is estimated that 11,130 deaths (6,690 men and 4,440 women) from this disease will occur in the United States in 2023. In 2020, an estimated 768,793 people died from stomach cancer worldwide. Globally, it is the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths.

About 60% of people who are diagnosed with stomach cancer in the United States are older than age 64. The average age of diagnosis is 68.

The incidence of stomach cancer varies in different parts of the world. In the United States, incidence rates dropped by 1.5% annually in the last decade. Part of this decline may be due to the use of infection-treating antibiotics. These medicines can kill H. pylori (see Risk Factors). However, stomach cancer is still one of the most common cancer types and one of the top causes of cancer deaths worldwide.

What is the survival rate for stomach cancer?

There are different types of statistics that can help doctors evaluate a person’s chance of recovery from stomach 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 stomach 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 stomach 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 U.S. survival rate for people with stomach cancer is 33%. This statistic reflects the fact that 62% of people with stomach cancer are diagnosed after the cancer has already spread, either regionally or distantly, beyond the location it began.

If stomach cancer is found before it has spread, the 5-year relative survival rate is generally higher but depends on the stage of the cancer found during surgery. The survival rates for stomach cancer also vary based on a person’s age and general health, and how well the treatment plan works.

If the cancer is diagnosed and treated before it has spread outside the stomach, the 5-year relative survival rate is 72%. If the cancer has spread to surrounding tissues or organs and/or the regional lymph nodes, the 5-year relative survival rate is 33%. If the cancer has spread to a distant part of the body, the 5-year relative survival rate is 6%.

Experts measure relative survival rate statistics for stomach cancer every 5 years. This means the estimate may not reflect the results of advancements in how stomach 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 National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program (All sources accessed March 2023.)

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