ABSTRACT
For a variety of reasons, very good cancer statistics have been available for England and Wales, and for Scotland for most of the twentieth century. Before 1900 the mortality from infectious disease was so high that the cancer risk was only a relatively minor hazard and was not listed separately. As infectious disease was brought under control and life expectancy increased so the diseases of old age became relatively more important causes of death, and mortality rates for the major cancer sites are available in the Registrar General’s Reports back to 1910.
