Ovarian and endometrial cancer statistics: rising uterine cancer rates and survival gaps in numbers

She was 58, two years past menopause, and she had been spotting for four months. "I thought it was just hormones," she told me. The endometrial biopsy came back grade 2 endometrioid adenocarcinoma. We staged her at IIIC1. She asked the question I hear in this setting more than any other: How did we miss this for so long?

Ovarian and endometrial (uterine corpus) cancers sit in a strange gap in women's health. The country has screening programs for breast and cervical cancer. For these two gynecologic malignancies, there is no equivalent safety net for average-risk women. Endometrial cancer is now the most common cancer of the female reproductive system, and both its incidence and death rates are climbing while overall U.S. cancer mortality falls. Ovarian cancer is less common but far more lethal, still diagnosed late in the majority of cases, still without a validated screening test.

This article pulls together the numbers a reporter or clinician can quote with a primary source attached: annual U.S. incidence and deaths, stage-specific survival, the USPSTF stance on ovarian screening, hereditary risk from BRCA and Lynch syndrome, diagnostic delay after symptoms appear, and the stark racial survival gap in endometrial cancer.

How common are ovarian and endometrial cancer

Start with the national projections that journalists and clinicians most often cite. According to the American Cancer Society's Cancer Facts & Figures 2025, an estimated 69,120 women in the United States will be diagnosed with cancer of the uterine corpus in 2025, and 13,860 will die from it. For ovarian cancer in the same year, ACS projects 20,890 new cases and 12,730 deaths.

Those two death totals sit uncomfortably close to each other. Uterine corpus cancer produces more than three times as many new diagnoses as ovarian cancer, yet ovarian cancer still kills almost as many women. That is the arithmetic of late detection: ovarian cancer is less common and more fatal.

NCI's SEER program provides complementary rates. For uterine cancer, age-adjusted incidence was 28.7 per 100,000 women per year (2019-2023) and the death rate 5.4 per 100,000 (2020-2024). For ovarian cancer, incidence was 10.4 per 100,000 and the death rate 5.7 per 100,000. Lifetime risk is about 3.1% for uterine cancer and 1.1% for ovarian cancer. Median age at diagnosis is 64 and 63. That is midlife and older adulthood, when postmenopausal bleeding and persistent bloating are too often dismissed as aging.

Uterine corpus cancer is now the most common cancer of the female reproductive system. Cervical cancer, which still dominates public conversation because of Pap and HPV testing, is far less common: ACS estimates 13,360 new invasive cervical cases and 4,320 deaths in 2025. Our coverage of cervical cancer and HPV screening statistics and breast cancer screening statistics shows what structured early detection can achieve. Ovarian and endometrial cancer do not have that architecture for average-risk women.

Why endometrial cancer is rising

Overall U.S. cancer mortality fell 34% from 1991 to 2022, averting roughly 4.5 million deaths, according to ACS Cancer Statistics 2025. Against that backdrop, uterine corpus cancer is moving the wrong way on both incidence and mortality.

ACS reports incidence has increased by more than 1% per year since the mid-2000s. Over 2012-2021, the rate rose about 0.6% per year in White women and 2% to 3% per year in women of all other racial and ethnic groups. SEER shows new-case rates rising about 0.7% per year from 2014 to 2023 and death rates about 1.3% per year from 2015 to 2024. ACS places the mortality increase at 1.5% per year from 2013 to 2022. Uterine corpus joins oral cavity and pancreas on the short list of cancers with still-climbing death rates; liver cancer in women is on that list too.

The strongest preventable driver is excess body weight and physical inactivity. ACS research estimates that about 60% of uterine corpus cancers are attributable to those factors. Excess adipose tissue raises circulating estrogen, and unopposed estrogen drives endometrial proliferation. Estrogen-only menopausal hormone therapy, late menopause, and other hormonal imbalances also raise risk. Women weighing menopause and hormone therapy decisions should know estrogen-only regimens raise endometrial risk when a uterus is present; combined estrogen-plus-progestin does not carry that same signal.

The histology mix is shifting as well. More aggressive non-endometrioid subtypes appear to be rising, especially among Black women, which helps explain climbing mortality even though many cases still announce themselves with postmenopausal bleeding.

Ovarian cancer is trending the other way. ACS reports incidence falling about 1.6% per year from 2012 to 2021, and mortality down 43% since 1976 (2.4% per year from 2004 through 2022). Part of that decline tracks oral contraceptive use and the drop in menopausal hormone therapy after the early 2000s; better treatment has helped as well. Fewer cases do not make the disease safer for the women who still get it.

Stage at diagnosis and five-year survival

Stage at diagnosis is still the single most predictive number for both cancers, and the distributions could not look more different.

For ovarian cancer, SEER data (2016-2022) show that only about 22% of cases are localized at diagnosis. Eighteen percent are regional, and 54% are already distant. Five-year relative survival is 91.9% for localized disease, 70.1% for regional disease, and 31.5% for distant disease. Overall five-year relative survival sits at 52.0% in SEER and about 51% in ACS's 2025 report. That figure has improved slowly over decades but remains far below breast or endometrial cancer.

For uterine cancer, 67% of cases are localized, 18% regional, and 11% distant. Five-year relative survival is 94.9% localized, 70.1% regional, and 19.9% distant. Overall five-year relative survival is 80.9% in SEER and 81% in ACS. Most women who present with postmenopausal bleeding still have a chance at cure if evaluation is not delayed.

Endometrial cancer has a loud early warning: abnormal uterine bleeding. Survival tracks that signal. Ovarian cancer's classic symptoms (bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, early satiety, urinary urgency or frequency) are real but nonspecific, easy to blame on diet, stress, or perimenopause. ACS notes that for roughly 1 in 5 women diagnosed with localized ovarian disease, five-year survival is about 92%. The problem is getting into that group. ACS also reports overall ovarian five-year survival ranging from 43% among Black women to 61% among Asian American/Pacific Islander women; the larger Black-White gap in uterine corpus cancer is covered below.

No screening test for ovarian cancer

There is still no recommended screening test for ovarian cancer in asymptomatic average-risk women.

In February 2018, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued a Grade D recommendation against screening asymptomatic women who are not known to have a high-risk hereditary cancer syndrome. The Task Force found adequate evidence that transvaginal ultrasound, serum CA-125 testing, or both do not reduce ovarian cancer mortality. Screening also produces important harms: false positives that lead to unnecessary surgery, including removal of ovaries and tubes in women without cancer.

ACS states the same conclusion: currently there are no recommended screening tests for ovarian cancer. High-risk women with inherited mutations may be offered pelvic exam, transvaginal ultrasound, and CA-125 monitoring, but ACS notes that strategy has not been shown to reduce mortality and is linked to serious harms after false positives.

A normal pelvic exam does not clear the ovaries. A CA-125 drawn "just in case" in a low-risk patient often creates more anxiety and procedures than answers. The absence of screening is not something clinicians forgot to invent; large trials failed to show a mortality benefit. What remains is risk stratification and symptom awareness. Women with a strong family history of breast or ovarian cancer, or known BRCA or Lynch mutations, need genetic counseling and a different pathway. Average-risk women need clinicians who take new, persistent bloating or pelvic symptoms seriously rather than a blood test ordered out of habit.

BRCA and Lynch syndrome risk

Hereditary syndromes explain a minority of cases but a large share of preventable deaths, because risk-reducing surgery and cascade testing of relatives can change outcomes for entire families.

According to the National Cancer Institute's BRCA fact sheet, about 39% to 58% of women who inherit a harmful BRCA1 change and 13% to 29% with a harmful BRCA2 change will develop ovarian cancer (including fallopian tube and primary peritoneal cancer) in their lifetime, versus about 1.1% in the general population. Harmful BRCA changes occur in roughly 0.2% to 0.3% of people overall (about 1 in 400), and in about 2% of people of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. BRCA is better known for breast cancer (more than 60% lifetime risk with a harmful BRCA1 or BRCA2 change), but ovarian risk often drives risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy after childbearing. ACS notes that surgery greatly reduces risk in high-risk women, and that average-risk women having pelvic surgery for other reasons may consider opportunistic salpingectomy.

Lynch syndrome is the major inherited driver for endometrial cancer. The Society of Gynecologic Oncology states that lifetime endometrial cancer risk is as high as 60%, with colorectal risk as high as 50%, and that more than 2,000 U.S. endometrial cancers each year may have a hereditary cause. ACS recommends that women with known or suspected Lynch syndrome be offered annual endometrial biopsy and/or transvaginal ultrasound beginning at age 35. That is targeted surveillance and does not apply to average-risk women. A patient with endometrial cancer at 48 and a parent with colon cancer at 52 is not a coincidence until proven otherwise.

Symptom recognition and diagnostic delay

Ovarian cancer was long called a "silent killer." That label did clinical harm. The disease is often quiet early, but it is not usually silent once advanced. ACS lists persistent nonspecific symptoms in the months before diagnosis: back pain, bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly, and urinary urgency or frequency. Women who experience such symptoms daily for more than a few weeks should seek prompt evaluation.

The delay is measurable. A 2021 SEER-Medicare analysis by Huepenbecker and colleagues in Cancer studied 13,872 women aged 66 and older with stage II-IV epithelial ovarian cancer who had at least one claim for abdominal/pelvic pain, bloating, difficulty eating, or urinary symptoms in the year before diagnosis. Mean time from first symptomatic claim to diagnosis was 2.9 months; the median was 1.1 months. Time varied by first symptom, number of symptoms, and first physician specialty. Race and ethnicity also played a role, as did geography and emergency-room presentation. The data is weaker than you would hope on the weeks before anyone seeks care, because claims only capture medical encounters. Once classic symptoms hit the system, diagnosis still often takes weeks to months, and not equally for every woman.

Endometrial cancer has a clearer signal: abnormal uterine bleeding, especially after menopause. ACS reports that about 69% of uterine corpus cases are diagnosed early because of irregular or postmenopausal bleeding. The failure mode is different. Women wait, assuming spotting is residual hormones. Clinicians defer biopsy. Any unexpected bleeding after menopause deserves evaluation; new heavy or irregular bleeding after 45 does too. Tools like our period calculator and late period checker help track pattern changes, but tracking is not a substitute for care. Chronic pelvic conditions such as endometriosis can further blunt attention to new pain.

Racial survival disparities in endometrial cancer

If one number from this article should travel into news copy, it is this: Black women with uterine corpus cancer have a five-year relative survival of 63%, compared with 84% for White women, according to ACS Cancer Facts & Figures 2025. ACS calls this one of the largest racial disparities in cancer.

Mortality rates tell the same story. SEER reports age-adjusted uterine cancer death rates of 9.9 per 100,000 among non-Hispanic Black women versus 4.9 per 100,000 among non-Hispanic White women (2020-2024). ACS Cancer Statistics 2025 states that Black people are twice as likely as White people to die of uterine corpus cancer. Incidence alone cannot explain a twofold death gap: SEER incidence is 31.1 vs 27.7 per 100,000 for Black and White women, while outcomes after diagnosis diverge sharply.

ACS attributes part of the survival difference to stage and biology. Black women are much less likely to be diagnosed with localized-stage disease (56% versus 71%) and more likely to have aggressive histologic subtypes. ACS is explicit that neither fully explains the gap. What remains is delayed evaluation of bleeding, unequal access to gynecologic oncology, differences in guideline-concordant surgery and adjuvant therapy, and structural barriers familiar from other cancer disparities. Incidence is also rising faster outside White women (2% to 3% per year over the past decade versus 0.6% in White women), so the mortality disparity will not close by itself.

Ovarian cancer shows racial differences too (ACS five-year survival of 43% in Black women versus higher rates in other groups), but the endometrial gap is the one national surveillance organizations now flag as extreme. It is also the disparity most tightly linked to a symptom every clinic should act on: postmenopausal bleeding.

Frequently asked questions about ovarian and endometrial cancer statistics

How many women get ovarian and endometrial cancer each year in the U.S.?

According to American Cancer Society estimates for 2025, about 69,120 women will be diagnosed with uterine corpus (endometrial) cancer and 20,890 with ovarian cancer. Projected deaths are 13,860 and 12,730, respectively. Uterine corpus cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer; ovarian cancer is less common but nearly as deadly in absolute deaths.

Why are endometrial cancer rates rising?

ACS reports uterine corpus incidence rising more than 1% per year since the mid-2000s, with death rates up about 1.5% per year from 2013 to 2022. Roughly 60% of cases are attributable to excess body weight and insufficient physical activity. Rising aggressive subtypes and faster incidence growth among non-White women also contribute. Overall U.S. cancer mortality is falling; uterine corpus is an exception.

Is there a screening test for ovarian cancer?

No validated screening test is recommended for asymptomatic average-risk women. The USPSTF issued a Grade D recommendation in 2018 against screening with CA-125, transvaginal ultrasound, or both, because trials did not show reduced mortality and false positives lead to unnecessary surgery. High-risk women with hereditary syndromes need individualized counseling, not the same approach as population screening.

What is five-year survival by stage?

Per NCI SEER, ovarian cancer five-year relative survival is 91.9% localized, 70.1% regional, and 31.5% distant, with only about 22% of cases found localized. Uterine cancer survival is 94.9% localized, 70.1% regional, and 19.9% distant, and about 67% of cases are localized. Overall survival is roughly 52% for ovarian and 81% for uterine cancer.

How much do BRCA and Lynch syndrome raise risk?

NCI estimates lifetime ovarian cancer risk at 39%-58% with a harmful BRCA1 change and 13%-29% with BRCA2, versus about 1.1% in the general population. For Lynch syndrome, the Society of Gynecologic Oncology cites lifetime endometrial cancer risk as high as 60%. These women need genetic counseling and often risk-reducing strategies, not average-risk reassurance.

How large is the racial disparity in endometrial cancer survival?

ACS reports five-year relative survival of 63% for Black women with uterine corpus cancer versus 84% for White women. That ranks among the largest racial gaps in U.S. cancer outcomes. Black women are less often diagnosed at a localized stage (56% vs 71%) and more often have aggressive subtypes, but ACS states those factors do not fully explain the survival difference. SEER death rates are about 9.9 vs 4.9 per 100,000 for Black and White women.