Cancer in Switzerland

The illness

How many people get cancer in Switzerland?

About 48,140 new cancers were found each year, on average, in 2018 to 2022: 26,495 in men and 21,645 in women.

2018 to 2022New cancers a year, on average

48,140 new cancers a year, on average, in 2018 to 2022

More men than women: 26,495 against 21,645. New cancers a year, on average, 2018 to 2022
  • 26,495Men
  • 21,645Women

Together 48,140

Source: Cancer in Switzerland 2018-2022, all cancers, factsheet 2026, Nationale Krebsregistrierungsstelle (NKRS), © NICER

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How many people get cancer in Switzerland?

Counted

About 48,140 new cancers were found each year, on average, in 2018 to 2022: 26,495 in men and 21,645 in women.

New cancers a year, on average, 2018 to 2022

  • Men26,495
  • Women21,645

Cancer in Switzerland 2018-2022, all cancers, factsheet 2026, Nationale Krebsregistrierungsstelle (NKRS), © NICER

© NICER. Reproduced for a public, non-commercial purpose, as the foundation's terms allow. Dooram drew the picture and made the sums it names.

The national cancer agency allows its figures to be reproduced for a non-commercial purpose with the foundation's rights noted (© NICER).

About this figure

The agency prints a figure for women and one for men, each a yearly average over five years; 48,140 is Dooram's sum of the two. Common skin cancers other than melanoma are left out, as the agency does.

Since 2020 every canton must keep cancer records, by federal law. Before that, part of the country was not yet covered, so part of 2018 and 2019 is estimated by the agency.

Source: Nationale Krebsregistrierungsstelle (NKRS), the national agency for cancer records, run by the NICER foundation, Cancer in Switzerland 2018-2022: all cancers (factsheet, 2026) (the national cancer agency's factsheet on all cancers, 2018 to 2022, in English), page 1 of the file, read 17 October 2026.

The illness

How many people die of cancer?

17,918 people died of cancer in 2024: 9,728 men and 8,190 women. That is about one death in four.

2024Deaths from cancer

17,918 people died of cancer in 2024, about one death in four

More men than women: 9,728 against 8,190. Deaths from cancer in 2024
  • 9,728Men
  • 8,190Women

Together 17,918

Source: Bundesamt für Statistik (BFS), Statistik der Todesursachen, T 14.03.04.01.03 and .04, 2024, data of 22 December 2025

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Deaths from cancer in Switzerland

Counted

17,918 people died of cancer in 2024: 9,728 men and 8,190 women. That is about one death in four.

Deaths from cancer in 2024

  • Men9,728
  • Women8,190

Bundesamt für Statistik (BFS), Statistik der Todesursachen, T 14.03.04.01.03 and .04, 2024, data of 22 December 2025

Source: Bundesamt für Statistik (BFS), the Federal Statistical Office. Its file is marked for open use with the source given. Dooram made the sums it names; the office's figures are not changed.

About this figure

Counted from death certificates by the Federal Statistical Office: deaths from malignant tumours. 71,942 people died in Switzerland in 2024 (35,214 men, 36,728 women). The share, 24.9 in 100, is Dooram's sum; the tables print the counts.

Sources: Bundesamt für Statistik (BFS), the Federal Statistical Office, Sterbefälle und Sterbeziffern wichtiger Todesursachen, Männer, seit 1970 (T 14.03.04.01.03) (deaths and death rates by main cause, men, since 1970 (in French: Nombre de décès et taux de mortalité selon les principales causes de décès, hommes, depuis 1970)), Bösartige Tumoren and all causes, 2024, read 17 October 2026. Bundesamt für Statistik (BFS), the Federal Statistical Office, Sterbefälle und Sterbeziffern wichtiger Todesursachen, Frauen, seit 1970 (T 14.03.04.01.04) (deaths and death rates by main cause, women, since 1970), Bösartige Tumoren and all causes, 2024, read 17 October 2026.

The illness

How many people live after cancer?

70 in 100 people are alive five years after a cancer is found, counting every kind of cancer together, for 2018 to 2022.

2018 to 2022Alive five years on, all cancers

70 in 100 people are alive five years after a cancer is found

Source: Cancer in Switzerland 2018-2022, all cancers, factsheet 2026, Nationale Krebsregistrierungsstelle (NKRS), © NICER

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Cancer survival in Switzerland

Estimated

70 in 100 people are alive five years after a cancer is found, counting every kind of cancer together, for 2018 to 2022.

Alive five years after a cancer is found, all cancers, 2018 to 2022

  • Alive five years on, in every 10070 in 100

Cancer in Switzerland 2018-2022, all cancers, factsheet 2026, Nationale Krebsregistrierungsstelle (NKRS), © NICER

© NICER. Reproduced for a public, non-commercial purpose, as the foundation's terms allow. Dooram drew the picture and made the sums it names.

The national cancer agency allows its figures to be reproduced for a non-commercial purpose with the foundation's rights noted (© NICER).

About this figure

How many people with cancer are alive five years on, compared with people of the same age and sex in the whole population: the agency's five-year relative survival. It describes a large group and is not any one person's chance. It differs a great deal from one cancer to another; those figures are not on this page yet.

Source: Nationale Krebsregistrierungsstelle (NKRS), the national agency for cancer records, run by the NICER foundation, Cancer in Switzerland 2018-2022: all cancers (factsheet, 2026) (the national cancer agency's factsheet on all cancers, 2018 to 2022, in English), page 1 of the file, read 17 October 2026.

The care

How many radiation machines?

Swiss hospitals had 68 linear accelerators, the machines that give most radiotherapy, in 2024.

2024Radiotherapy machines in hospitals

68 linear accelerators for radiotherapy in hospitals in 2024

Linear accelerators for radiotherapy in Swiss hospitals, 2024
  • Linear acceleratorsIn hospitals, 202468

Source: Bundesamt für Statistik (BFS), Gesundheitsversorgungsstatistik, medizinisch-technische Infrastruktur, 2024

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Radiotherapy machines in Switzerland

Counted

Swiss hospitals had 68 linear accelerators, the machines that give most radiotherapy, in 2024.

Linear accelerators for radiotherapy in Swiss hospitals, 2024

  • Linear acceleratorsIn hospitals, 202468

Bundesamt für Statistik (BFS), Gesundheitsversorgungsstatistik, medizinisch-technische Infrastruktur, 2024

Source: Bundesamt für Statistik (BFS), the Federal Statistical Office. Its file is marked for open use with the source given. Dooram made the sums it names; the office's figures are not changed.

About this figure

The Federal Statistical Office's count of machines in hospitals. Machines in private institutes outside a hospital are not counted. How they are spread across the cantons is not on this page yet.

Source: Bundesamt für Statistik (BFS), the Federal Statistical Office, Medizinisch-technische Infrastruktur, Anzahl Geräte und Untersuchungen in Krankenhäusern nach Grossregion und Kanton des Betriebes (medical equipment in hospitals, number of machines and examinations, by region and canton), Linearbeschleuniger (Radiotherapie), Anzahl Geräte, Schweiz, 2024, read 17 October 2026.

The care

Is there screening for bowel cancer?

It depends on the canton. 16 cantons run bowel cancer screening programmes that the law names, and within them the test is free of the yearly deductible.

2026Cantons with a bowel screening programme

16 cantons run bowel cancer screening programmes named in the law, with no deductible to pay for the test

The cantons whose bowel screening programmes the law names, 2026
„Findet die Untersuchung im Rahmen der Früherkennungsprogramme in den Kantonen Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Bern, Freiburg, Genf, Glarus, Graubünden, Jura, Luzern, Neuenburg, Solothurn, St. Gallen, Tessin, Uri, Waadt oder Wallis statt, wird auf der Leistung keine Franchise erhoben.“

In English, Dooram's translation: “If the examination takes place within the early detection programmes of the cantons of Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Glarus, Graubünden, Jura, Lucerne, Neuchâtel, Solothurn, St. Gallen, Ticino, Uri, Vaud or Valais, no deductible is charged for it.”

Source: Krankenpflege-Leistungsverordnung (KLV), SR 832.112.31, Art. 12e, version in force 1 August 2026, Fedlex

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Cancer screening in Switzerland

Reported

It depends on the canton. 16 cantons run bowel cancer screening programmes that the law names, and within them the test is free of the yearly deductible.

The cantons whose bowel screening programmes the law names, 2026

„Findet die Untersuchung im Rahmen der Früherkennungsprogramme in den Kantonen Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Bern, Freiburg, Genf, Glarus, Graubünden, Jura, Luzern, Neuenburg, Solothurn, St. Gallen, Tessin, Uri, Waadt oder Wallis statt, wird auf der Leistung keine Franchise erhoben.“

In English, Dooram's translation: “If the examination takes place within the early detection programmes of the cantons of Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Glarus, Graubünden, Jura, Lucerne, Neuchâtel, Solothurn, St. Gallen, Ticino, Uri, Vaud or Valais, no deductible is charged for it.”

Krankenpflege-Leistungsverordnung (KLV), SR 832.112.31, Art. 12e, version in force 1 August 2026, Fedlex

About this figure

The ordinance on what the compulsory health insurance pays, article 12e, in the version in force from 1 August 2026. Switzerland has 26 cantons; the other ten are not named. The deductible is the amount a person pays each year before the insurance pays; the page on how health care works gives it.

Source: Fedlex (the Swiss Confederation's publication platform for federal law), Verordnung des EDI über Leistungen in der obligatorischen Krankenpflegeversicherung (Krankenpflege-Leistungsverordnung, KLV), SR 832.112.31, Art. 12e (the ordinance on the benefits of compulsory health insurance, article 12e, in force 1 August 2026), read 17 October 2026.

What is not on this page yet?

Some things a reader might look for here have no section. This is what kind of “no” each one is.

  • Cancer in childrenWaits on written permissionSwitzerland's national childhood cancer records publish yearly figures for children and young people. Their keeper's terms ask for written consent before any of them is reproduced, so Dooram shows none until it has asked and been answered.
  • Which cancer medicines the insurance pays forCould not be readThe list of medicines the compulsory health insurance pays for is published on a federal site whose rules address answers with a web page instead of a rules file. Dooram held off until that was settled; it was on 20 October 2026, and the list has not been read yet.
  • Cancer canton by cantonLooked, found nothingLooked in the national cancer agency's tables and its statistics page: they give the whole country and its language regions, not the cantons.
  • How many cancer trials are runningLooked, found nothingLooked on the federal portal for research on people and in its report for 2024: it counts clinical trials of every kind, not those for cancer.

Dooram informs; it does not give medical advice. Every figure names who published it and when.

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