Breast cancer incidence in Canada

Release date: October 29, 2025
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Infographic: Breast cancer incidence in Canada
Description: Breast cancer incidence in Canada

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Canadian women, with 1 in 8 women expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime and 1 in 36 expected to die from the disease.Note 1

Understanding how female breast cancer rates change over time helps cancer awareness efforts and contributes to improving diagnosis and treatment.

From 1984 to 2019, breast cancer rates increased in women under 50.Note 2

Number of cases per 100,000 women, selected age groups, Canada, 1984 to 2019 Table summary
The information is grouped by Diagnosis year  (appearing as row headers), Age group, 20 to 29 years and 30 to 39 years, calculated using units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Diagnosis year  Age group
20 to 29 years 30 to 39 years 40 to 49 years
1984 3.94  36.83  126.55 
1985  4.15  38.52  128.76 
1986  3.51  35.87  124.51 
1987  4.05  38.73  123.92 
1988  3.81  38.53  134.77 
1989  3.70  36.47  126.89 
1990  4.35  34.11  134.66 
1991  3.72  35.49  129.01 
1992  3.02  35.07  139.09 
1993  3.66  36.35  132.91 
1994  3.94  35.60  135.61 
1995  4.16  36.90  130.97 
1996  3.22  36.81  132.84 
1997  3.34  36.34  138.26 
1998  3.21  39.17  131.85 
1999  4.29  40.97  135.51 
2000  3.39  35.90  130.33 
2001  3.61  38.13  131.03 
2002  3.37  39.64  130.69 
2003  3.09  37.90  126.45 
2004  2.95  37.20  133.49 
2005  5.01  37.53  141.09 
2006  4.12  38.40  137.30 
2007  3.66  39.11  132.70 
2008  5.40  36.92  135.96 
2009  4.66  36.67  139.10 
2010  5.22  40.31  141.96 
2011  5.22  39.74  142.55 
2012  4.59  40.66  138.27 
2013  4.96  36.92  135.38 
2014  5.43  40.47  139.01 
2015  5.38  42.36  136.45 
2016  5.50  40.23  139.33 
2017  5.81  42.91  139.16 
2018  5.55  44.12  141.37 
2019  6.07  42.47  140.76 

Breast cancer has multiple subtypes, some being more aggressive than others. Triple negative is one of the more aggressive subtypes.

Five-year cumulative breast cancer net survival, by subtype Table summary
The information is grouped by Time since diagnosis (years) (appearing as row headers), Luminal A, Luminal B, Luminal B-like, HER2-enriched, Triple negative and Unknown, calculated using net survival (%) units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Time since diagnosis (years) Luminal A Luminal B Luminal B-like HER2-enriched Triple negative Unknown
net survival (%)
0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
0.5 100.0 99.1 98.7 97.7 97.2 91.3
1 100.0 98.1 98.0 95.5 94.0 88.4
1.5 100.1 96.6 97.0 93.4 89.5 86.0
2 100.0 95.1 96.0 91.4 85.9 83.6
2.5 99.7 93.6 94.5 88.9 82.8 81.1
3 99.5 91.6 93.0 86.3 80.6 79.0
3.5 99.1 90.0 91.6 84.9 78.3 77.2
4 98.9 88.7 90.8 83.9 76.8 75.6
4.5 98.5 87.3 90.3 82.9 75.6 73.8
5 98.4 86.0 88.8 82.0 74.5 71.7

Triple negative breast cancer accounts for approximately…

  • 1 in 10 cases overallNote 3
  • 1 in 5 cases among women diagnosed under the age of 40Note 3
  • 1 in 5 cases among Black womenNote 4

Sources: Canadian Cancer Society, 2023, Canadian Cancer Statistics; Seely, J. M., L. F. Ellison, J. M. Billette, S. X. Zhang and A. N. Wilkinson, 2024, “Incidence of Breast Cancer in Younger Women: A Canadian Trend Analysis,” Canadian Association of Radiologists Journal, 75(4), 847–854; Wilkinson, A. N., L. F. Ellison, S. F. McGee, J. M. Billette and J. M. Seely, 2024, “The Landscape of Breast Cancer Molecular and Histologic Subtypes in Canada,” Current Oncology, 31(9), 5544–5556; Wilkinson, A. N., C. Ng, L. F. Ellison and J. M. Seely, 2025, “Breast cancer incidence and mortality, by age, stage and molecular subtypes, by race/ethnicity in Canada,” The Oncologist, 30(8).

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Published by authority of the Minister responsible for Statistics Canada.

© His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Industry, 2025

Use of this publication is governed by the Statistics Canada Open Licence Agreement.

Catalogue no. 11-627-M

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