Stomach cancer remains a significant global health burden, although its patterns differ by sex, age, race and ethnicity, stage, and geography. In the United States, the 2026 estimate is 31,510 new cases and 10,740 deaths. Worldwide, GLOBOCAN estimated 980,286 new cases and 641,554 deaths for 2024. The figures below keep each measurement period and estimate explicit.
Contents
- U.S. burden and population estimates
- Incidence by sex, race, and ethnicity
- Age at diagnosis
- Mortality patterns
- Stage and relative survival
- U.S. trends
- The global burden
U.S. burden and population estimates
The National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Cancer Stat Facts estimates 31,510 new stomach cancer cases in the United States in 2026. The estimate includes 17,900 men and 13,610 women. Stomach cancer is estimated to account for 1.5% of all new U.S. cancers in 2026.
The same 2026 estimate projects 10,740 U.S. stomach cancer deaths: 6,360 among men and 4,380 among women. Stomach cancer is estimated to represent 1.7% of all U.S. cancer deaths that year. These are estimates for 2026, not a completed annual count. SEER, “Stomach Cancer — Cancer Stat Facts”
About 0.8% of U.S. men and women are expected to be diagnosed with stomach cancer during their lifetimes, based on 2021–2023 data. SEER also reports that an estimated 150,727 people were living with stomach cancer in the United States in 2023. The lifetime-risk figure and the prevalence estimate answer different questions: one concerns the chance of diagnosis over a lifetime, while the other describes people living with the disease at a specified time.
Incidence by sex, race, and ethnicity
For 2019–2023, the U.S. age-adjusted stomach cancer incidence rate was 9.4 cases per 100,000 men of all races and 5.9 cases per 100,000 women of all races. Age adjustment helps compare populations with different age structures; these rates are not the same as the 2026 projected case counts.
SEER reports the following age-adjusted incidence rates by race or ethnicity for men and women:
| Group | Men, cases per 100,000 | Women, cases per 100,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Hispanic | 12.1 | 9.1 |
| Non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native | 15.9 | 9.2 |
| Non-Hispanic Asian or Pacific Islander | 12.2 | 7.2 |
| Non-Hispanic Black | 13.2 | 8.9 |
| Non-Hispanic White | 7.6 | 4.1 |
These rates describe the U.S. population during 2019–2023. They show different reported incidence levels across the listed groups and sexes, but they do not identify the causes of those differences. The labels are the categories used in the SEER statistics. SEER, “Stomach Cancer — Cancer Stat Facts”
Age at diagnosis
Most U.S. stomach cancer diagnoses in 2019–2023 occurred among people ages 55 and older. The distribution reported by SEER was:
- Younger than 20: 0.1% of diagnoses
- Ages 20–34: 1.7%
- Ages 35–44: 5.0%
- Ages 45–54: 11.0%
- Ages 55–64: 22.1%
- Ages 65–74: 29.5%
- Ages 75–84: 21.7%
- Older than 84: 9.0%
The median age at diagnosis was 68 years. The 65–74 group was the largest single age band, accounting for 29.5% of diagnoses, followed by ages 55–64 at 22.1% and ages 75–84 at 21.7%. Together, the reported age groups indicate that diagnosis is concentrated in later adulthood, while also documenting cases among younger people.
The percentages describe the age distribution of diagnoses, not the risk for an individual in each age group. They also cover 2019–2023, while the projected national totals above refer to 2026. SEER, “Stomach Cancer — Cancer Stat Facts”
Mortality patterns
During 2020–2024, the U.S. age-adjusted stomach cancer death rate was 3.5 deaths per 100,000 men of all races and 2.0 deaths per 100,000 women of all races. The reported death rates by race or ethnicity were:
- Hispanic men: 5.3 deaths per 100,000; Hispanic women: 3.6
- Non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native men: 6.3; women: 3.7
- Non-Hispanic Asian or Pacific Islander men: 5.0; women: 3.1
- Non-Hispanic Black men: 6.1; women: 3.1
- Non-Hispanic White men: 2.7; women: 1.4
The mortality age distribution also leaned toward older adults. People aged 65–74 accounted for 27.1% of U.S. stomach cancer deaths in 2020–2024, people aged 75–84 accounted for 25.0%, and people older than 84 accounted for 15.0%. These three groups together represented 67.1% of reported deaths, a direct sum of the supplied percentages.
Death rates use a different period from the 2019–2023 incidence rates, so the two sets should not be treated as measurements from one identical time window. SEER, “Stomach Cancer — Cancer Stat Facts”
Stage and relative survival
For U.S. stomach cancer diagnosed during 2016–2022, the overall 5-year relative survival was 39.8%. Relative survival compares survival among people with cancer with expected survival in a comparable general population; it is a population statistic, not an individual prognosis.
Stage at diagnosis was strongly associated with the reported survival levels:
| Stage at diagnosis | Share of U.S. cases | 5-year relative survival |
|---|---|---|
| Localized | 32% | 78.1% |
| Regional | 23% | 39.0% |
| Distant | 35% | 8.1% |
| Unknown stage | 9% | 33.6% |
The stage categories account for 99% because the supplied figures are rounded. The survival figures apply to cases diagnosed in 2016–2022 and should not be read as a forecast for a particular person. Outcomes can vary with factors that are not represented by this table.
An earlier National Cancer Institute summary reported an overall U.S. 5-year survival rate of 36.4% for gastric cancer for 2014–2020. That same summary stated that early-stage stomach cancers localized to the mucosa or submucosa had more than 65% 5-year survival in the United States, compared with more than 95% in Japan; the period for those early-stage comparisons was not specified. These are earlier summary figures and have not been independently verified here. NCI, “Stomach (Gastric) Cancer Prevention (PDQ®)–Health Professional Version”
The NCI summary also reported a U.S. age-adjusted stomach cancer incidence rate of 7.0 cases per 100,000 individuals for 2017–2021. That rate uses a different period and population presentation from SEER’s sex-specific 2019–2023 rates. NCI, “Stomach (Gastric) Cancer Prevention (PDQ®)–Health Professional Version”
U.S. trends
SEER reports that U.S. age-adjusted stomach cancer incidence rose an average of 1.1% per year from 2014 through 2023. Over a nearby but not identical period, U.S. age-adjusted stomach cancer mortality fell an average of 2.0% per year from 2015 through 2024.
The two trend measures describe different outcomes and different time windows: incidence concerns new diagnoses, while mortality concerns deaths. The annual averages summarize change across the stated periods; they do not mean that every year changed by exactly the same percentage. SEER, “Stomach Cancer — Cancer Stat Facts”
The global burden
The International Agency for Research on Cancer’s GLOBOCAN 2024 estimate counted 980,286 new stomach cancer cases worldwide and 641,554 stomach cancer deaths worldwide. Stomach cancer ranked fifth worldwide for incidence and fifth for cancer mortality in those 2024 estimates. The worldwide age-standardized incidence rate was 8.9 cases per 100,000 people.
Asia accounted for 70.8% of worldwide stomach cancer cases and 69.7% of worldwide stomach cancer deaths in the 2024 GLOBOCAN estimate. These are global estimates for 2024, not U.S. counts and not observed totals for a later year. IARC, “STOMACH | Global Cancer Observatory | GLOBOCAN 2024”
The global figures provide context for the U.S. statistics: the United States contributes to a worldwide burden that is distributed unevenly by region, while the U.S. figures provide more detailed breakdowns by sex, age, race or ethnicity, stage, survival, and recent trends.