How Many People Die From Brain Tumours Every Year?
Brain and nervous system cancers kill about 248,500 people a year, around 680 a day. Global, UK and US figures, glioblastoma, children and survival.
Picture a man in his early forties who has had a headache on and off for a month. He blames the screen at work, then a bad pillow, then not enough water. One morning he reaches for a word in a meeting and it simply is not there. That night his wife notices that he keeps bumping into the left side of the door frame. Two days later a scan shows a shadow the size of a plum, and the life the family had planned splits into a before and an after.
Brain tumours do not kill as many people as heart disease, lung cancer or stroke. What makes them so feared is who they take and how. They are one of the few cancers that hit children and young adults as hard as the elderly, and they attack the organ that makes a person who they are. Here is what the numbers actually show.
The headline number
The International Agency for Research on Cancer's GLOBOCAN 2022 estimates put deaths from cancers of the brain and central nervous system at 248,500 worldwide in a single year, from about 321,700 new cases. That is roughly 680 deaths every day, or one person a little more often than every two minutes.
For context, our live death counter tracks around 170,000 deaths a day from every cause on Earth. Brain cancers are a small slice of that total, but the ratio of deaths to new cases is one of the harshest of any cancer.
| Time period | Brain and CNS cancer deaths worldwide (approx.) |
|---|---|
| Per year | 248,500 |
| Per month | 20,700 |
| Per week | 4,780 |
| Per day | 681 |
| Per hour | 28 |
| Per minute | 0.5 |
Deaths equal about 77% of new cases in the same year. That is a blunt measure, because someone diagnosed this year may die years later, but compare it with breast cancer, where yearly deaths are roughly a third of yearly cases. With most brain cancers, a diagnosis is far more likely to end in death.
One note on the figures: GLOBOCAN counts malignant tumours. Many brain tumours are classed as non-malignant (such as most meningiomas), and some of those still kill because of where they grow. Charity and national registry figures that include all brain tumours are therefore higher than the cancer-only totals.
Where brain cancer sits among cancers
Cancer as a whole kills close to 10 million people a year, which we break down in how many people die from cancer every day. Brain and nervous system cancers rank around twelfth for deaths, and 19th for new cases. That gap between the two rankings tells you how lethal they are.
| Cancer (worldwide, GLOBOCAN 2022) | Approx. deaths per year | Approx. per day |
|---|---|---|
| Lung | 1,820,000 | 4,990 |
| Bowel (colorectal) | 904,000 | 2,480 |
| Liver | 758,000 | 2,080 |
| Breast | 666,000 | 1,820 |
| Stomach | 660,000 | 1,810 |
| Leukaemia | 305,000 | 836 |
| Brain and CNS | 248,500 | 681 |
| Melanoma of the skin | 58,700 | 161 |
You can explore the wider picture on our cancer cause page, and compare brain cancer with blood cancers in how many people die from leukaemia every year.
The types that matter most
"Brain tumour" covers more than 100 different types. A handful of them account for most of the deaths.
| Tumour type | Who it usually affects | Typical outlook |
|---|---|---|
| Glioblastoma | Adults, mostly over 50 | Median survival around 12 to 18 months with treatment |
| Other gliomas (astrocytoma, oligodendroglioma) | Younger adults | Can be slow-growing for years, but many progress |
| Medulloblastoma | Children | Around 70% of children survive 5 years in wealthy countries |
| DIPG (diffuse midline glioma) | Children, often aged 5 to 10 | Almost always fatal, median survival under a year |
| Meningioma | Adults, more often women | Mostly non-malignant and often curable with surgery |
| Brain metastases | Adults with cancer elsewhere | Depends on the original cancer |
Glioblastoma is the name most people know, because it is the most common malignant brain tumour in adults and the most aggressive. In the United States it makes up around half of all malignant primary brain tumours. The standard treatment of surgery, radiotherapy and a chemotherapy tablet called temozolomide has barely changed in two decades, and only around 5% to 7% of patients are alive five years after diagnosis.
Brain metastases are a separate and much larger group: tumours that spread to the brain from cancers elsewhere, most often lung, breast, kidney and melanoma. Those deaths are usually counted under the original cancer, so the true number of people who die with cancer in the brain is far higher than 248,500.
Well-known people who died of brain tumours
Brain tumours have taken people at the height of their careers, and several of those deaths changed how governments fund research.
| Name | Year of death | Age | Tumour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ted Kennedy, US senator | 2009 | 77 | Glioblastoma |
| Beau Biden, Delaware attorney general | 2015 | 46 | Glioblastoma |
| Tessa Jowell, UK cabinet minister | 2018 | 70 | Glioblastoma |
| John McCain, US senator | 2018 | 81 | Glioblastoma |
After Tessa Jowell's death, the UK government pledged extra money for brain tumour research and the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission was set up in her name. In the US, Beau Biden's death led to the Cancer Moonshot. For more famous lives cut short this year, see our list of notable deaths in 2026.
Children and young adults
This is where brain tumours stand apart from almost every other cancer. Leukaemia is the most common childhood cancer, but brain tumours are now the leading cause of cancer death in children in the United States and the UK, because they are so much harder to cure.
The charity Brain Tumour Research, citing NHS England cancer registration data, says brain tumours kill more children and adults under 40 than any other cancer.
| Age group | What brain tumours mean for this group |
|---|---|
| Children (0 to 14) | Most common solid tumour; leading cause of childhood cancer death in the US and UK |
| Teenagers and young adults (15 to 39) | A leading cause of cancer death; gliomas common |
| Adults (40 to 69) | Glioblastoma becomes the main killer |
| Older adults (70 and over) | Highest rates of all, and the lowest survival |
Even children who survive often live with the effects of treatment: problems with memory, growth, hearing, hormones and learning. That is why paediatric specialists talk about "cure at a cost". You can see how cancer fits among other causes of death for young people on our 5 to 14 age group page and 15 to 29 age group page, and in the leading causes of death for young people. For the bigger global picture, read how many children die every day.
The UK and the US
| Measure | United Kingdom | United States |
|---|---|---|
| New brain and CNS cancer cases per year | About 12,700 (all brain, CNS and intracranial tumours) | About 24,740 malignant (ACS 2026 estimate) |
| Deaths per year | About 5,400 | About 18,350 (ACS 2026 estimate) |
| Deaths per day | About 15 | About 50 |
| Five-year survival | Around 1 in 8 adults | About 1 in 3 (all ages, SEER) |
The survival figures are not directly comparable, because the UK figure covers adults with all types of brain tumour while the US figure is relative survival for malignant tumours at all ages. Both point the same way, though: brain cancer survival is among the lowest of any cancer, and it has improved far less than for breast, prostate or bowel cancer over the past 40 years. See our United Kingdom and United States pages for how all causes of death compare.
Warning signs
Most headaches are not brain tumours. The vast majority are tension headaches, migraines or simple dehydration. But some patterns should prompt a visit to a GP, especially when several happen together or keep getting worse.
| Symptom | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| A new, persistent headache, often worse in the morning | Rising pressure inside the skull |
| Seizures in an adult with no history of epilepsy | Often the first sign of a glioma |
| Nausea or vomiting with headaches | Pressure on the brain |
| Changes in personality, memory or behaviour | Frontal lobe tumours |
| Weakness on one side, or trouble with speech | Tumour pressing on movement or language areas |
| Problems with vision, such as double or blurred sight | Pressure on the optic nerves |
In children, warning signs also include repeated morning vomiting, unusual head tilt, problems with balance, and in babies a rapidly growing head. A new seizure always deserves medical attention, which we cover in more detail in how many people die from epilepsy every year.
What causes brain tumours, and what does not
The frustrating answer is that for most brain tumours, no cause is ever found. There is no clear lifestyle link like smoking for lung cancer or sunburn for melanoma.
| Factor | Evidence |
|---|---|
| Ionising radiation to the head (such as radiotherapy) | Established risk factor |
| Rare inherited syndromes (such as neurofibromatosis, Li-Fraumeni) | Established, but explain only a small share |
| Age | Risk rises with age for most adult types |
| Mobile phones | A 2024 review commissioned by the WHO found no link with brain cancer |
| Diet, stress, head injury | No convincing evidence |
The mobile phone question comes up more than any other. The 2024 systematic review, which pooled dozens of studies over more than 20 years, found no rise in brain cancer risk even among heavy and long-term users. Brain cancer rates have also stayed broadly flat in many countries while phone use exploded.
The research gap
Because no lifestyle change prevents most brain tumours, progress depends almost entirely on research. Campaigners in the UK have long argued that brain tumours receive a small share of national cancer research spending compared with how many years of life they take, partly because they kill relatively young people. The picture is improving, with new trials of targeted drugs, tumour-treating fields and immunotherapy, but glioblastoma remains one of the hardest problems in medicine.
If you want to see how brain cancer compares with other causes of death, try our compare causes tool, and mark World Cancer Day each February.
While you were reading
In the twelve minutes it took to read this article, about 6 people around the world died of brain or nervous system cancer, and around 1,400 people died from all causes. Some of them were children. You can watch the global count in real time or see today's running total.
Sources: International Agency for Research on Cancer, GLOBOCAN 2022 brain and central nervous system fact sheet; American Cancer Society, key statistics for brain and spinal cord tumours, 2026 estimates; US National Cancer Institute SEER programme; Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States; Cancer Research UK, brain tumour statistics; Brain Tumour Research; Karipidis et al., Environment International, 2024 (mobile phones and cancer). Figures are rounded and estimates vary between sources and years. This article is for general information only and is not medical advice. If you have symptoms that worry you, speak to your GP or doctor.
You might also like
How Many People Die From Leukaemia Every Year?
Leukaemia kills about 305,000 people a year, around 840 a day. Global, UK and US figures, the four main types, survival rates and the child survival gap.
How Many People Die From Allergies Every Year
Fatal allergic reactions are rare: about 20 to 40 UK deaths a year and around 200 in the US. Food, drugs, stings, who is at risk and what saves lives.
How Many People Die From Cervical Cancer Every Day
Cervical cancer kills about 950 women a day, almost all of them in poorer countries. The numbers, the HPV link, screening and the plan to eliminate it.