Youth cancer mortality fell 24% in the past two decades, the CDC's National Center of Health Statistics found.
The overall cancer death rate for people younger than 20 sat at 2.10 deaths per 100,000 in 2021. Although that is an uptick from 2.09 in 2019 and 2020, it is an overall decrease of 24% from mortality rates in 2001.
Here are four other notes:
- The cancer death rate fell 16% among children 4 and younger and 21% among kids between 5 and 9 years old.
- Girls younger than 20 experienced the largest decline in cancer mortality with roughly 30% decline, compared to 19% for male youths.
- Cancer death rates among white youths fell 27% between 2001 and 2021, compared with 11% decline for Black youths and 19% decline for Hispanic youths.
- Brain cancer caused most cancer-related deaths in youths and was 23% higher than leukemia, and more than twice as high as bone and articular cartilage cancer.