- The cancer death rate declined by 29% from 1991 to 2017, including a 2.2% drop from 2016 to 2017, the largest single-year drop in cancer mortality ever reported. The news comes from Cancer Statistics, 2020, the latest edition of the American Cancer Society's annual report. https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.3322/caac.21590 8 comments science