Cancer Deaths in the Southeastern U.S.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in United States, accounting for over 599,000 deaths in 2019, or about 21% of all deaths in the U.S. that year.  Thanks to advancements in medical knowledge, the death rate from cancer has dropped modestly over the past twenty years. From 197.0 cancer deaths per 100,000 population in 1999, the cancer death rate had dropped 7.3%, to 182.7 deaths per 100,000 population, by 2019.  The national trend in cancer deaths is also seen in the twelve-state Southeastern U.S. region, although the improvement has been more modest.  The region, which historically has worse cancer death rates than most sections of the country, saw its cancer death rate drop only 5.5% between 1999 and 2019, from 212.6 deaths per 100,000 population to 200.9 deaths per 100,000 population.  A closer examination of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, reveals the following about cancer deaths in the Southeastern U.S.:

Cancer Deaths in the Southeastern U.S.

Area/Deaths	1999	2009	2019
AL	9,506	10,289	10,266
AR	6,137	6,513	6,482
FL	38,478	40,932	45,583
GA	13,225	15,143	17,756
KY	8,925	9,634	9,975
LA	9,412	9,098	9,485
MS	6,143	6,131	6,587
NC	15,815	17,513	19,951
SC	8,089	9,123	10,487
TN	11,943	13,482	14,382
VA	13,365	14,122	15,045
WV	4,762	4,786	4,604
Region	145,800	156,766	170,603
U.S.	549,838	567,628	599,601
Area/Death Rate*	1999	2009	2019
AL	214.6	216.2	209.4
AR	231.4	224.8	214.8
FL	244.2	219.4	212.2
GA	164.4	157.4	167.2
KY	222.1	223.2	223.3
LA	211.0	202.6	204.0
MS	217.2	207.2	221.3
NC	198.9	185.3	190.2
SC	203.5	198.8	203.7
TN	211.8	213.8	210.6
VA	190.9	178.2	176.3
WV	262.8	259.0	256.9
Region	212.6	201.5	200.9
U.S.	197.0	185.0	182.7

(*) number of cancer deaths per 100,000 population

Source: CDC Wonder. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Underlying Cause of Death 1999-2019 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released in 2020. Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2019, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Accessed on July 17, 2021