Survival
Survival depends on many factors. No one can tell you exactly how long you will live.
Below are general statistics based on large groups of people. Remember, they can’t tell you what will happen in your individual case.
Survival by stage
There are no UK-wide statistics available for melanoma survival by stage.
Survival statistics are available for each stage of melanoma in England. These figures are for men and women diagnosed between 2013 and 2017.
Stage 1
Almost everyone (almost 100%) will survive their cancer for 5 years or more after they are diagnosed.
Stage 2
80 out of 100 people (80%) will survive their cancer for 5 years or more after diagnosis.
Stage 3
70 out of 100 people (70%) will survive their cancer for 5 years or more after they are diagnosed.
Stage 4
The survival statistics for stage 4 melanoma don’t take into account the age of the people with melanoma. Statistics that do take into account the age (age-standardised statistics) are not available.
Almost 30 out of 100 people (almost 30%) survive their cancer for 5 years or more after they are diagnosed.
Cancer survival by stage at diagnosis for England, 2019
Office for National Statistics
These figures are for people diagnosed in England between 2013 and 2017.
These statistics are for net survival. Net survival estimates the number of people who survive their cancer rather than calculating the number of people diagnosed with cancer who are still alive. In other words, it is the survival of cancer patients after taking into account that some people would have died from other causes if they had not had cancer.
The statistics for stage 4 melanoma survival don’t take into account the age of the people with stage 4 melanoma. Statistics that do take into account the age (age-standardised statistics) are not available.
Without age standardisation, the survival differences between the 4 stage groups can be influenced by the age of the people in each stage group, in addition to their disease progression or treatment.
We should not use these non age-standardised figures to compare survival with other groups, such as different cancer types, stages, or populations from other countries.
Survival for all stages of melanoma
Generally for people with melanoma in England:
- almost all people (almost 100%) will survive their melanoma for 1 year or more after they are diagnosed
- around 90 out of every 100 people (around 90%) will survive their melanoma for 5 years or more after diagnosis
- more than 85 out of every 100 people (more than 85%) will survive their melanoma for 10 years or more after they are diagnosed
Cancer survival by stage at diagnosis for England, 2019
Office for National Statistics
These figures are for people diagnosed in England between 2013 and 2017.
These statistics are for net survival. Net survival estimates the number of people who survive their cancer rather than calculating the number of people diagnosed with cancer who are still alive. In other words, it is the survival of cancer patients after taking into account that some people would have died from other causes if they had not had cancer.
What affects survival
Your outlook depends on the stage of the cancer when it was diagnosed. This means how deeply it has grown into the skin and whether it has spread.
Survival is better for women than it is for men. We don't know exactly why this is. It may be because women are more likely to see a doctor about their melanoma at an earlier stage.
Age can affect outlook and younger people have a better prognosis than older people.
Your outlook may also be affected by where the melanoma is in the body.
About these statistics
The terms 1 year survival and 5 year survival don't mean that you will only live for 1 or 5 years. They relate to the number of people who are still alive 1 year or 5 years after their diagnosis of cancer.
Many people with melanoma live much longer than a year or 5 years.
More statistics
For more in-depth information about survival and other statistics for melanoma, go to our Cancer Statistics section.
