Cancer is leading to fewer deaths among younger and middle‑aged people than it did 20 years ago, even though the total number of cancer deaths has risen.
In 2024, 230,400 people in Germany died from cancer – a 10.1 % increase over 2004’s figure of 209,300, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Monday. The overall rise is mainly a consequence of the ageing population. Age‑standardised figures show that for every 100,000 residents there were 273.5 cancer deaths in 2024, compared with 322.4 in 2004.
Mortality from cancer fell in almost every age group. The only exception was the 5‑ to 9‑year‑old cohort, where deaths rose slightly from 2.2 to 2.4 per 100,000 residents. Among people aged 90 and older, the rate was 2,073.7 per 100,000 in 2024, a small increase from 1,995.6 in 2004. The decline in cancer mortality is likely due to improved treatments, better early detection, and stronger prevention measures.
In proportion to all deaths, cancer is now a less common cause of death. The share of cancer deaths fell from 25.6 % in 2004 to 22.9 % in 2024. Nevertheless, cancer remained the second most common cause of death in 2024, behind circulatory‑system diseases (339,200 deaths, 33.7 % of all deaths). Cancer was the leading cause of death among children aged 5-14 (23.9 % of deaths) and among adults aged 35-74, where 35.8 % of deaths were cancer‑related.
The dominant cancer types responsible for deaths remain lung and bronchial cancer, with 45,100 fatalities – roughly a fifth (19.6 %) of all cancer deaths in 2024. Other major contributors were colorectal cancer (23,600 deaths), pancreatic cancer (19,500), breast cancer (18,700) and prostate cancer (15,500).
Hospital treatment for cancer in 2024 involved about 1.45 million patients, a 1.2 % rise from the previous year. However, compared with 2004, the number of hospitalised cancer patients fell by 5.6 % (from 1.54 million in 2004). In 2024, cancer caused one in every twelve hospital admissions (8.1 %). The most frequent cause of admission was circulatory‑system disease, accounting for 14.8 % of the 17.9 million treatment episodes.
Hospitalisations are most common for patients aged 60-79; 55.5 % of all cancer patients in 2024 fell into this group. One‑fifth (20.3 %) were 80 or older, 19.0 % were aged 40-59, and only 5.2 % were under 40.
The trend differs by cancer type and age. In 2024, younger people received more colorectal‑cancer treatments than 20 years earlier. In the 15‑ to 44‑year‑old group, colorectal‑cancer treatment rates per 100,000 residents rose, while they declined in older cohorts. The increase was most pronounced among 20‑ to 24‑year‑olds, where cases per 100,000 rose from 2.6 in 2004 to 3.6 in 2024. Among 35‑ to 39‑year‑olds, the rate also climbed, from 21.8 to 27.5 cases per 100,000.
Overall, the cancers that prompted the most hospital treatments in 2024 were lung and bronchial cancer (12.4 %), colorectal cancer (9.5 %) and breast cancer (8.6 %). They were followed by skin cancer (8.3 %), bladder cancer (7.0 %) and prostate cancer (6.7 %).
