The number of people diagnosed with cancer in the UK is rising steadily, according to the latest figures, but the number of deaths is dropping.

This is because many patients are being diagnosed earlier, and receiving more effective treatments.

The figures come from Cancer Research UK, and show that there were 268,000 cancer cases spotted in 1999, an increase of 5,000 on the previous year.

In 1994, there were 12,000 fewer cases of cancer.

While some of the reasons behind the increases are unclear, there are some obvious reasons why the number of diagnoses are rising.

In some cases, the increasing life expectancy of men and women means that they are more likely to experience cancer in their lifetime.

Prostate cancer

This may partly explain why cases of breast cancer rose by one-seventh between 1994 and 1999.

The fact that women are having fewer children, having them later in life, and breastfeeding less may also be contributory factors.

Modern diagnosis techniques have helped cut cancer deaths

The numbers of men diagnosed with prostate cancer is also growing fast - perhaps because new tests are picking up cases which would have otherwise lain dormant.

Overall, however, cancer mortality has fallen every year between 1983 and 2000.

The most spectacular success has been in testicular cancer - dropping by 15% in five years, even though the number of cases has risen

'Worrying rise'

Professor Robert Souhami, Cancer Research UK's director of clinical research, said: "The chance of surviving cancer is now much better than it was a decade ago, which is why deaths from the disease have been going down despite the worrying increase in number of cases.

Professor David Forman, Chairman of the UK Association of Cancer Registries, said: "The increase in the number of people being diagnosed with cancer is mainly a result of our ageing population - more people are living to an age when they can develop the disease.

"Some cancers, such as melanoma of the skin, are increasing in incidence while others, such as lung cancer in men, are decreasing.

"Having the ability to monitor these trends is absolutely vital and this is provided by the national network of cancer registries. The UK is fortunate in having one of the best such monitoring systems in the world."