One woman in 9 in the United Kingdom will develop breast cancer during her lifetime.

Each year 39,200 women are newly diagnosed with breast cancer and although survival rates are improving, on average 74 per cent of women are still alive five years later, too many women will die from the disease. On average 12,800 women die from breast cancer each year

Age is the biggest risk factor for breast cancer, with 80 per cent of all breast cancers occur in post-menopausal women (assuming average age of menopause is 50). However, approximately 8,000 pre-menopausal women are diagnosed with the disease each year..

Men can also suffer from breast cancer, although they make up less than one per cent of all new cases of the disease. Those who get breast cancer are usually over 60 years of age and approximately 60 per cent of these men survive for at least five years. Men account for 300 new cases of breast cancer a year in the UK and about 100 men die from the disease a year.

Britain has one of the highest breast cancer death rates in the world. Statistics cannot begin to describe the impact that breast cancer has on the lives of those women who are affected by it and on their families, friends and colleagues.

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Source: Breast Cancer Campaign