Cancer accounted for nearly 172,000 deaths in the twelve-state Southeastern U.S. in 2020.  The region's cancer death rate of 201.0 deaths per 100,000 population was, relative to the size of its population, almost 10% above the national average.  As a whole, the Southeastern U.S. had the second-worst regional cancer death rate in the nation in 2020.  Among men in the Southeastern U.S., the cancer death rate was nearly 22% higher than it was for women in the region.  Moreover, both genders in the region registered higher cancer death rates than the national average for their respective gender.  Further examination of data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) reveals the following about male vs. female cancer death rates in the Southeastern U.S.:

Male vs. Female Cancer Death Rates in the Southeastern U.S.

	Deaths	Population	Death Rate*
Regionwide	171,979	85,565,785	201.0
Male	92,308	41,736,692	221.2
Female	79,671	43,829,093	181.8
Nationwide	602,350	329,484,123	182.8
Male	317,731	162,256,202	195.8
Female	284,619	167,227,921	170.2

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

Report Period: 2020

States in Region:  Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia

Source: CDC Wonder. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Underlying Cause of Death 1999-2020 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released in 2021. Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2020, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Accessed on February 15, 2023