Half the Dutch will be given a cancer diagnosis at some point in their lives but survival chances are improving all around, according to Dutch cancer centre IKNL.

Up to now, one in three people are diagnosed with cancer but rising life expectancy rates have pushed that up to one in two, the IKNL said this week. Lifestyle choices such as drinking alcohol, smoking, sunbathing and obesity are also all having an impact. 

Some 80% of those diagnosed with cancer are over the age of 60. Between 1990 and 2019 the diagnosis rate rose for women from 33% to 47% and for men from 40% to 54%. 

In 1949, just 25% of people diagnosed with cancer lived for longer than five years but that has now gone up to 66%. This is due to the enormous advances in prevention and early detection, as well as innovative treatment methods, cancer charity KWF said. 

“These new figures show cancer affects everyone,” KWF director Carla van Gils said on social media. “So it is especially important that we continue working to eradicate cancer, improve methods of treatment and boost the quality of life of patients.”

The increase in cancer cases will only add to the shortage of healthcare workers, she said.