The five-year survival rate among cancer patients has reached 74 percent, based on data from a recent five-year period, primarily due to early detection and advanced treatments.

According to data from the health ministry and the National Cancer Center on Tuesday, patients diagnosed with cancer between 2019 and 2023 had a five-year relative survival rate of 73-point-seven percent.

In contrast, the corresponding figure was only 54-point-two percent for those diagnosed between 2001 and 2005.

There were 288-thousand-613 newly diagnosed cancer patients in 2023, up two-point-five percent from a year earlier.

If the age-standardized occurrence rate stays at the current 522-point-nine people per 100-thousand, it is estimated that 44-point-six percent of South Korean men and 38-point-two percent of South Korean women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime.

Thyroid cancer was the most prevalent type of cancer among both men and women in 2023, followed by lung cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, stomach cancer, prostate cancer and liver cancer.