Breast Cancer Facts
All women are at risk. 80% of all breast cancers occur in women with no known risk factors.
The most significant risk factors for getting breast cancer are being female and getting older.

• Except for skin cancer, breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among women.

• An estimated 194,280 new cases of invasive breast cancer were diagnosed in women in the U.S. during 2009.

• An estimated 1,910 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in men in the U.S. during 2009.

• An estimated 40,170 women and 440 men died from breast cancer in the U.S. during 2009.

• In the U.S., a woman has a 1 in 8 (12%) risk of developing breast cancer in her lifetime.

• One woman is diagnosed with breast cancer every three minutes, and one woman will die of breast cancer every 13 minutes in the U.S.

• The five-year survival rate for breast cancer, when caught early before it spreads beyond the breast, is now 98% (compared to 74% in 1982).

• Approximately 5 to 10% of breast cancers are due to heredity. The majority of women with breast cancer have no known significant family history or other known risk factors.

• A woman’s chance of developing breast cancer increases with age. Approximately 95% of all breast cancers occur in women 40 years of age and older.

• Breast cancer is second only to lung cancer in cancer deaths among women.

• The chance of a woman dying from breast cancer is about 1 in 33 (3%).

• African Americans have the highest death rate from breast cancer of any racial/ethnic group in the U.S.

In the United States today, there are more than two million breast cancer survivors, the largest group of cancer survivors in the country.