The US Census Bureau estimates that in 2019 there were 43 million Americans who identified as non-Hispanic black or African American, comprising 13.4% of the total US population.1
African Americans are the second-largest racial/ethnic minority group in the US, coming after the Hispanics. The black population in the US is primarily concentrated in the South and includes individuals whose ancestors were brought to the United States as slaves, as well as immigrants and their descendants. Of the more than 3.6 million foreign-born blacks in the US in 2014, most were born in either Latin America (58%) or Africa (40%).
Important Stats
Incidence: National Cancer Institute projects about 1.8 million new cancer cases in 2020. About 93,990 cancer cases in men and 95,920 cases in women are expected to be newly diagnosed among blacks.
Deaths: National Cancer Institute estimates 606,520 deaths in the US in 2020. About 35,660 black men and 33,750 black women were expected to die from cancer.
Reasons for the highest death rates among African Americans:
Blacks have the highest death rate and shortest survival of any racial/ethnic group in the United States for most cancers. The causes of these inequalities are complex and reflect social and economic disparities more than biological differences. Socioeconomic disparities reflect inequitable access to opportunities and resources, such as work, wealth, income, education, housing, and overall standard of living. Others include barriers to high-quality cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment information and services.
Although the overall racial disparity in cancer death rates is decreasing, in 2012, the death rate of all cancer cases combined was 24% higher in black men and 14% higher in black women than in white men and women, respectively.2
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