New data shows that nearly four out of ten people in South Korea will likely receive a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime. 

According to the health ministry and the Korea Central Cancer Registry on Wednesday, there were 247-thousand-952 cancer patients in 2020, down three-point-six percent from a year earlier.

While the life expectancy for South Koreans stood at 83-point-five years, there was a 36-point-nine-percent chance of being diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime.

Of those diagnosed, seven out of ten lived for five years or more, with the survival rate gradually rising since 1993. The rate jumped from 65-point-five percent between 2006 and 2010 to 71-point-five percent between 2016 and 2020.

The most frequently diagnosed carcinoma was for the thyroid, followed by the lung, colon, stomach, breast, prostate and liver.