The statistics about brain tumours

These brain tumour statistics are shocking. We believe that fighting brain tumours on all fronts through research, awareness and support is the only way to save lives, reduce long-term disabilities and help everyone with a brain tumour and their families.

The statistics

1. Brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer of children and adults under 40 in the UK
2. Around 13,000 people are diagnosed each year with a primary brain tumour, including 900 children and young people – that’s 35 people every day
3. Over 5,400 people lose their lives to a brain tumour each year
4. High-grade brain tumours reduce life expectancy by on average 27 years – the highest of any cancer
5. Just 13% of adults survive for five years after a high-grade brain tumour diagnosis

References

1. Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). GBD Results. Seattle, WA: IHME, University of Washington, https://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-results/, Accessed June 2025

2. 12,746 new cases of brain tumour each year, 2017-2019 average, Cancer Research UK, https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/brain-other-cns-and-intracranial-tumours, Accessed June 2025

878 new cases 0-24 years old,  Brain, other CNS and intracranial tumours incidence by age, Cancer Research UK,  https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/brain-other-cns-and-intracranial-tumours/incidence#heading-One, Accessed June 2025

3. 5,456 deaths from brain tumours, 2017-2019 average, Cancer Research UK, https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/brain-other-cns-and-intracranial-tumours, Accessed June 2025

4. Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). GBD Results. Seattle, WA: IHME, University of Washington, https://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-results/, Accessed June 2025

5. Cancer Survival in England, cancers diagnosed 2016 to 2020, followed up to 2021, NHS England, https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/cancer-survival-in-england/cancers-diagnosed-2016-to-2020-followed-up-to-2021, Accessed June 2025

Our values

Our values underpin our culture, the way we do things and what we believe in. The way we work is:

Community First

We will always centre the needs of our community-first – ensuring that our work is meaningfully informed by those with lived, learned and practiced experience and that they are the driving force behind the decisions that we make.

We’ll encourage all voices to be heard, and we will be united in our purpose – cultivating a sense of belonging and inclusivity for everyone and creating the change that is needed, together.

Collaborative

We choose collaboration as a route to delivering the best outcomes. We choose to lean on each other, share openly and include intentionally – as we know that we’re stronger together.

We’ll actively seek out and support diverse perspectives and utilise expertise and knowledge wherever it exists.

We choose to operate without an ego and as part of an eco-system so everyone can join in.

Bold

We are unapologetically true to ourselves and our mission. We will be courageous and we’ll think bigger – we have to, as there is no time to waste.

We’ll be confident and relentless in challenging the status-quo, even when that means making difficult decisions.

We’re determined, focused and unstoppable.

Innovative

We are creative and adopt a growth mind-set, constantly using our experience and imaginations to find smarter and more effective ways to make progress.

We’re unafraid to think differently, to find new ways to solve old problems and embrace agile principles that allow us to ‘test and learn; so we can move at pace in pursuit of our shared vision.

Find out more about our progress since the launch of our strategy. We have taken bold steps towards our goals but there is still so much to do. Please join us and be part of the change.