Cancer is expensive – and costs are set to increase
According to OECD estimates, cancer currently costs a total of EUR PPP 449 billion annually to health systems across OECD countries, increasing health expenditure by 6% compared to a situation where there is no cancer. This is more than the total annual health budget of France.
Cancer costs are expected to grow even further in the future, for three main reasons. First, population ageing alone will lead to a rise in health spending on cancer, as more people live to an age where their risk of getting cancer increases. If there is no change to how many people get and survive cancer in each age group, per capita cancer health expenditure would grow by 67% between 2023 and 2050, on average across the OECD.
Second, efforts to improve cancer outcomes across countries would lead to higher spending on cancer as people survive for longer, require treatment for longer, and can then possibly go on to get cancer again. If survival rates increase, there could be additional 15% increase in per capita cancer health expenditure.
Third, higher treatment costs from new medicines and technologies will further increase the total cost.
The societal burden of cancer
Cancer also has a significant negative impact on a person’s work life, leading to many people being forced to work part-time, exit employment and retire early. In addition, cancer affects the opportunities for continuous education and training, which are typically associated with higher wages.
Through cancer’s impact on productivity and workforce participation, it is estimated that OECD countries lose the equivalent of 3.1 million full-time workers (1.1 million in the EU). This translates into a lost workforce output of EUR PPP 163 billion per year (EUR PPP 49 billion for the EU), broadly equivalent to the annual GDP of Hungary.
What can countries do about it?
The good news is that there is significant scope to improve cancer prevention and care – with the potential to avoid one in four cancer-related premature deaths.
Around 40% of cancer cases can be prevented by healthier lifestyles. Scaling up action to tackle tobacco and alcohol use, unhealthy diets, lack of physical activity and air pollution would significantly curb the growing burden of cancer.
Screening is also pivotal in the fight against certain cancers, yet large differences in screening rates persist both across and within countries. To boost uptake, countries should increase awareness of screening programmes and optimise the design of screening invitations and delivery.
While almost all OECD and EU countries have introduced human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations, coverage rates are generally low: the average coverage of girls receiving a first dose across OECD countries was 69% in 2022, well below the target of 90%. Improving HPV vaccination coverage could prevent around 90% of premature deaths due to cervical cancers.
Delays in accessing care can also be addressed by raising awareness of the early signs of cancer among patients, and increased awareness among healthcare workers can reduce diagnosis delay. Improving referral processes from primary care to specialist oncology care can help minimise treatment delays.
To read more about how countries can tackle the impact of cancer on health, the economy and society, read our publication: Tackling the Impact of Cancer on Health, the Economy and Society | OECD