One in two people will develop a cancer at some point in their lives, experts now estimate. Previous calculations that indicated cancer will affect just over one in three people were underestimating the scale of the disease, according to a new analysis by Cancer Research UK. However, because of advances in treatment and early detection, more people are now surviving cancer.

Two-thirds of the increase in risk can be attributed to the fact we are now living longer, and cancer is a disease that becomes more likely the older we get. The additional third is down to changes in lifestyle, CRUK said. The study calculates the lifetime risk of cancer for men born in the UK in 1960 is 53.5 per cent and for women 47.55 per cent, averaging at 50.5 per cent. The risk is likely to increase for people born after 1960, and CRUK said it was confident in predicting that this meant at least half the population can now expect to get cancer.

Recent estimates suggest that half of people who get cancer now survive the disease for 10 years or more – so it is projected that despite more cases, the number of deaths attributable to cancer will remain stable at around one in four.

Changes in lifestyle that have contributed to the increase in cancer risk include an increase in obesity, which is linked to a number of cancers and is projected to continue rising. Higher consumption of red and processed meats is also linked to a rise in bowel cancer. Other factors include an increase in the culture of using sunbeds and sunbathing, which has increased incidence of skin cancer, while women having babies later and breastfeeding less is also raising their chance of developing breast cancer. As well as this, more cancers are being detected by screening programmes.