Cancer Research UK (CRUK) reports that early deaths from cancer are pummelling the British economy to the tune of £10.3bn a year – lung cancer being the worst – the findings coming as ministers wrestle with how a record 2.8m people countrywide are too sick to work amid a sluggish economy.
CRU) said the £10.3bn is the total cost of the 350 000 years of lost productivity recorded annually because of adults dying prematurely from the disease.
Each early death costs the economy an average of £61 000, according to the charity’s first research into how much the country loses as a result of the growing toll of cancer diagnoses and deaths.
In 2021, reports The Guardian, heart problems led to 257 000 years of lost productivity, while digestive system diseases caused 123 000 lost years and breathing conditions 85 000 years.
Michelle Mitchell, CRUK’s chief executive, said: “Cancer has an immeasurable impact on patients and their loved ones. But this report reveals there is also a significant economic cost.”
Deaths from lung cancer cost the UK more than any other form of the disease – £1.7bn. Those from bowel cancer cost £1.2bn while breast cancer fatalities cost £800m.
Those are the three cancers causing the largest number of deaths from the disease at the youngest ages, which leads to the most productive life years lost. They also cause more deaths in men than women which, because men on average earn more than women, results in a larger financial loss.
Cancer deaths among people under 50 led to the annual loss of 119 000 lost years of productive life and a £3.2bn loss for the economy, the survey found. Those 119 000 lost years were from 5 900 people aged 15 to 49 dying in 2021.
Among 50- to 64-year-olds the toll is even higher – 167 000 lost years per year, costing £5.1bn.
David Finch, the assistant director of the healthy lives team at the Health Foundation thinktank, said: “This issue is not going away, with a projected 25% increase in the share of working-age people with diagnosed major illnesses by 2040.”
More people are being diagnosed with cancer and dying from it than ever before, mainly because of the ageing population and the impact of obesity.
There were 140 000 deaths a year from cancer between 1975 and 1977. The figure rose to 176 000 a year during 2023-25. CRUK says that on current trends it will increase to 208 000 deaths a year by 2038-40.
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