Cancer in Israel: 2023 Incidence and Mortality Statistics
The Israeli Ministry of Health has released the 2023 report from the National Center for Disease Control. While the absolute number of diagnoses has risen due to population growth, age-adjusted incidence rates continue to show a steady downward trend.
Prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women remain the most common types of cancer in Israel. The Ministry of Health has published the latest report from the National Center for Disease Control, summarizing data from the National Cancer Registry for 2023.
A Positive Trend
The report offers encouraging news: cancer incidence rates have been on a downward trend for over a decade across most population groups. Among Jewish men, an average annual decrease of 1.7% has been recorded since 2006, while Jewish women have seen a 0.8% annual decrease since 2013. The Arab population shows similar progress, with a 1.0% annual decrease among men (since 2006) and 0.3% among women (since 2008).
The Ministry of Health explains that the rise in the total number of diagnosed cases reflects population growth and aging rather than an increased risk of contracting the disease. When adjusting for population size, a clear downward trend emerges, which the ministry attributes to reduced risk factors such as smoking, improved early detection, and more effective treatments.
Mortality and Incidence Data
In 2023, 32,689 new cancer cases were diagnosed in Israel, including 29,149 invasive tumors. During the same year, 11,663 people died from the disease. As of 2023, there were 103,003 individuals in Israel who had been diagnosed with cancer between 2019 and 2023.
Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death among men, while breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women, regardless of ethnic background.
Breakdown by Tumor Type
Among Jewish men, prostate cancer accounts for 25% of all new cases, followed by lung cancer (10.4%), colorectal cancer (9.7%), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (5.4%), and bladder cancer (4.8%).
Among Jewish women, breast cancer remains the most prevalent, accounting for 34.4% of new diagnoses. It is followed by skin melanoma (8.9%), lung cancer (7.9%), uterine cancer (5.5%), and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (5.4%).
Age-related trends show that incidence rates are higher among women up to age 54, largely due to breast cancer. From age 55 onwards, rates are higher among men, driven by the prevalence of prostate and lung cancers.
In the Arab community, lung cancer is the most common diagnosis among men (20.2%), while breast cancer remains the most common among women (33.3%).
The Importance of Prevention
Prof. Lital Keinan-Boker, Director of the National Center for Disease Control, notes that the continuous decline in cancer mortality is a testament to the quality of Israel’s public health system. She emphasizes the critical importance of early detection screenings.
"Cancer is a disease that can often be prevented by changing health behaviors," she states. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle—avoiding smoking, regular physical activity, balanced nutrition, and sun protection—is essential to ensuring that cancer morbidity rates in Israel continue to decline.
