Four out of 10 people who die prematurely are killed by cancer - more than those who fall victim to stroke, heart disease or Aids, according to new research.
Analysis by Cancer Research UK found 40% of men and women who die prematurely between the ages of 25 and 74 are killed by the disease. The figure is also higher than the number of people murdered, who commit suicide, or who die in road accidents.
Almost 76,000 people die prematurely from cancer each year in the UK (just more than 40% of the total who die early), compared with 28,000 who die from heart disease (15%) and 17,000 from respiratory diseases (9%). The rest is made up of digestive disorders and other causes, including Aids.
Lung cancer is the biggest cancer killer among all age groups, causing around 35,000 deaths a year. This is followed by bowel cancer (around 16,000) and then breast cancer (around 11,700).
However, experts behind the research said death rates from the disease have fallen dramatically over the last 40 years.
Professor Peter Johnson, Cancer Research UK's chief clinician, said: "We have had great success in reducing the death rate from many types of cancer in the last decade. But far too many people are still dying from this devastating disease and we clearly have much more work to do."
Pancreatic and lung cancer have the lowest five-year survival rates at 4% and 7% respectively.
Dr Julie Sharp, senior science information manager at Cancer Research UK, said: "Cancer is the disease that kills more people than any other major illness. Even though we have made tremendous progress in improving the chance of surviving the disease in the last 40 years, these figures serve as a reminder of the huge amount of work still left to do.
"We must redouble our efforts to ensure that our research continues to find new ways to improve and refine diagnosis and treatment so that cancer becomes a disease people live with rather than die from, irrespective of the type of cancer or their age."
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: "This study demonstrates the challenges the NHS faces from the rising burden of cancer. That is why we are investing £750 million extra over the next four years to make sure people are diagnosed with cancer earlier and have better access to the latest treatments, and why we are modernising the NHS to improve the results which patients get from their treatment."