Cancer Deaths in the Southwestern U.S.

Accounting for over 599,000 deaths in 2019, or about 21% of all deaths in the U.S. that year, cancer is the number two cause of death in United States.  Thanks to advancements in the early diagnosis and treatment of cancer, the cancer death rate has dropped modestly in the twenty years from 1999. From 197.0 cancer deaths per 100,000 population in 1999, the cancer death rate had dropped to 182.7 deaths per 100,000 population by 2019, a decline of 7.3%.  The favorable trend in cancer deaths at the national level was also seen in the four-state Southwestern U.S. region.  The region, which historically has lower cancer death rates than most sections of the country, saw its cancer death rate drop 7.6% between 1999 and 2019, from 168.5 deaths per 100,000 population to 155.7 deaths per 100,000 population.  A further examination of data from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics reveals the following about cancer deaths in the Southwestern U.S.:

Cancer Deaths in the Southwestern U.S.

Area/Deaths	1999	2009	2019
AZ	9,006	10,271	12,503
NM	2,857	3,202	3,614
OK	7,312	7,639	8,309
TX	32,755	35,591	41,489
Region	51,930	56,703	65,915
U.S.	549,838	567,628	599,601
Area/Death Rate*	1999	2009	2019
AZ	179.3	161.9	171.8
NM	158.0	157.2	172.4
OK	212.7	205.5	210.0
TX	159.3	143.5	143.1
Region	168.5	153.7	155.7
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