Key Statistics for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

The American Cancer Society's estimates for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in the United States for 2021 are:

  • About 9,110 new cases will be diagnosed with CML (5,150 in men and 3,960 in women).
  • About 1,220 people will die of CML (680 men and 540 women).

About 15% of all new cases of leukemia are chronic myeloid leukemia. About 1 person in 526 will get CML in their lifetime in the United States.

The average age at diagnosis of CML is around 64 years. Almost half of cases are diagnosed in people 65 and older. This type of leukemia mainly affects adults, and is rarely seen in children.

Visit the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Statistics Center for more key statistics.

The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team

Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as journalists, editors, and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.

American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2021. Atlanta, GA: American Cancer Society; 2021.

Cancer Stat Facts: Leukemia-Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, 2010-2014.  National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD. https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/clyl.html.  Accessed on January 5, 2018.

Jabbour E, Kantarjian H. Chronic myeloid leukemia: 2018 update on diagnosis, therapy and monitoring. Am J Hematol. 2018;93(3):442-459.

SEER Lifetime Risk (Percent) of Being Diagnosed with Cancer by Site and Race/Ethnicity: Both Sexes, 18 SEER Areas, 2012-2014 (Table 1.15) National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD. Accessed at https://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2014/results_merged/topic_lifetime_risk.pdf on January 5, 2018.

Last Revised: January 12, 2021

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