Leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), and myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are types of cancer that can affect the bone marrow, the blood cells, the lymph nodes, and other parts of the lymphatic system.
Click on the links below to view statistics about each disease:
- General Blood Cancers
- Leukemia
- Lymphoma
- Myeloma
- Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS)
- Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPNs)
General Blood Cancers
New Cases
- Approximately every 3 minutes, one person in the US is diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma.
- An estimated combined total of 187,740 people in the US are expected to be diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma in 2024.
- New cases of leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma are expected to account for 9.4 percent of the estimated 2,001,140 new cancer cases that will be diagnosed in the US in 2024.
Prevalence
- Prevalence is the estimated number of people alive on a certain date in a population who previously had a diagnosis of the disease. An estimated 1,698,339 people in the United States (US) are living with or in remission from leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) or myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs).
Survival
- Relative survival compares the survival rate of a person diagnosed with a disease to that of a person without the disease. The most recent survival data available may not fully represent the outcomes of all current therapies and, as a result, may underestimate survival to a small degree.
Deaths
- Approximately every 9 minutes, someone in the US dies from a blood cancer.* This statistic represents approximately 157 people each day or more than six people every hour.
- Leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma are expected to cause the deaths of an estimated 57,260 people in the US in 2024.
- These diseases are expected to account for 9.4 percent of the deaths from cancer in 2024, based on the estimated total of 611,720 cancer deaths.
*Data specified for “blood cancer” include leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma, and do not include myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) or myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) due to lack of available data.
Leukemia
New Cases
- In 2024, 62,770 people are expected to be diagnosed with Leukemia.
Prevalence
- An estimated 456,481 people are living with or in remission from leukemia in the US.
Survival
- The 5-year relative survival rate for leukemia has more than doubled, from 34 percent for 1975 to 1977 to 70 percent for 2013 to 2019.
- From 2013 to 2019, the 5-year relative survival rates overall were
- ALL – 71.3 percent overall, 92.1 percent for children and adolescents younger than 15 years, and 93.5 percent for children younger than 5 years
- AML – 31.7 percent overall and 68.8 percent for children and adolescents younger than 15 years
- CLL – 88.0 percent overall
- CML – 70.6 percent overall.*
*The survival rate of CML in clinical trials is higher than the survival rate reported here, based on SEER data. It is speculated that close clinical monitoring and better medication adherence in clinical trials are associated with a lower risk of disease progression and higher rates of survival.
Deaths
- Approximately 23,670 deaths (13,640 males and 10,030 females) in the US are expected to be attributed to leukemia in 2024.
- From 2016 to 2020, leukemia was the sixth most common cause of cancer deaths in males and the seventh most common cause of cancer deaths in females in the US.
Hodgkin (HL) and Non-Hodgkin (NHL) Lymphoma
New Cases
- About 89,190 people in the US are expected to be diagnosed with lymphoma in 2024 (8,570 cases of HL and 80,620 cases of NHL).
Prevalence
- An estimated total of 912,982 people in the United States (US) are living with or in remission from lymphoma^.
- There are 165,856 people living with or in remission from HL
- There are 750,602 people living with or in remission from NHL
^The unique number of people living with or in remission from lymphoma may not equal the sum of those living with or in remission from both HL and NHL due to people diagnosed with both HL and NHL
Survival
- The 5-year relative survival rate for people with HL has increased more than 21 percent, from 73 percent during the period 1975 to 1977 to 88.9 percent during the period 2013 to 2019. The 5-year relative survival rate is 96.0 percent for all people with HL who were younger than 50 years at diagnosis.
- HL is now considered to be one of the most curable forms of cancer.
- The 5-year relative survival rate for people with NHL has risen from 46 percent from 1975 to 1977 to 74.3 percent from 2013 to 2019. The 5-year relative survival rate is 85.6 percent for all people with NHL who were younger than 50 years at diagnosis.
Deaths
- In 2024, an estimated 21,050 individuals in the US population are expected to die from lymphoma (910 HL and 20,140 NHL).
Myeloma
New Cases
- An estimated 35,780 new cases of myeloma (19,520 males and 16,260 females) are expected to be diagnosed in the US in 2024.
Prevalence
- An estimated 168,234 people in the United States (US) are living with or in remission from myeloma.
Survival
- Five-year relative survival increased from 24 percent from 1975 to 1977 to 59.8 percent from 2013 to 2019.
- The 3-year survival rate as of January 1, 2020, was 71.7 percent for all races and ethnicities.
- The 5-year survival rate is 77.7 percent for people with myeloma who were younger than 50 years at diagnosis.
Deaths
- Approximately 12,540 deaths from myeloma are expected in 2024.
Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS)
New Cases
- For the 5-year period from 2016 to 2020, there were 77,552 new cases of MDS throughout the US, averaging 15,510 cases per year.
Prevalence
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An estimated 60,041 people in the United States (US) are living with or in remission from MDS.
Survival
- For 2013-2019, the 5-year relative survival rate for MDS was 36.9 percent.
Deaths
- The SEER report reflects mortality data from the National Cancer for Health Statistics (NCHS) database, in which MDS is not included as a cause of death. Therefore, mortality statistics were not reported in 2024 at the time of this publication.
Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPNs)
New Cases
For the 5-year period from 2016 to 2020, there were 69,354 new cases of MPNs throughout the US, averaging 13,871 cases per year.
Prevalence
An estimated 120,761 people in the United States (US) are living with or in remission from MPNs.
Survival
For 2013-2019, the 5-year relative survival rate for MPNs was 88.4 percent.
Deaths
- The SEER report reflects mortality data from the National Cancer for Health Statistics (NCHS) database, in which MPNs are not included as a cause of death. Therefore, mortality statistics were not reported in 2024 at the time of this publication.
Source:
- Facts 2023-2024. Facts 2023-2024 provides updates from the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Facts & Figures 2024 (published online in 2024, https://www.cancer.org/research/cancer-facts-statistics. html) for estimated numbers of new blood cancer cases and estimated numbers of deaths due to blood cancers.
The incidence rates, prevalence and mortality data in Facts 2023-2024 reflect the statistics from the National Cancer Institute’s SEER*Explorer: An interactive website for SEER cancer statistics [Internet]. Surveillance Research Program, National Cancer Institute. [Cited 2024 March]. Available from https://seer. cancer.gov/explorer/.