Cancer Deaths in New England

Responsible for more than 599,000 deaths in 2019 (about 21% of all deaths in the United States that year), cancer is the second leading cause of death in the nation.  Thanks to advancements in treatment and early diagnosis, the cancer death rate has declined modestly in the twenty years from 1999 to 2019. At 197.0 cancer deaths per 100,000 population in 1999, by 2019 the death rate from cancer had dropped 7.3%, to 182.7 deaths per 100,000 population.  The favorable trend in the cancer death rate at the national level was also seen in the New England region.  The region, which historically has a higher cancer death rate than most other regions of the country, saw its cancer death rate drop more than 10% between 1999 and 2019, from 217.3 deaths per 100,000 population to 194.7 deaths per 100,000 population.  A closer look at data from the National Center for Health Statistics details the following about cancer deaths in New England:

Cancer Deaths in New England

Area/Deaths	1999	2009	2019
CT	7,054	6,819	6,496
MA	13,853	13,112	12,582
ME	3,035	3,133	3,413
NH	2,408	2,562	2,819
RI	2,463	2,220	2,210
VT	1,255	1,254	1,378
Region	30,068	29,100	28,898
U.S.	549,838	567,628	599,601
Area/Death Rate*	1999	2009	2019
CT	208.3	191.4	182.2
MA	219.3	201.2	182.5
ME	239.6	235.6	253.9
NH	197.1	194.7	207.3
RI	236.7	210.7	208.6
VT	207.5	200.7	220.8
Region	217.3	202.0	194.7
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