Skip to main content
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Home
  • Join
  • Sign In
  • Join
  • Sign In
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Library
  • Directories
  • News
  • Forums
  • About Us
  • Members
  • Search
  • Groups
  • Courses

Section Menu

  • Events
  • Forums
  • Directories
  • News
  • Library
  • Groups
  • Courses
  • Blog
  • About Us
  • Search

Breadcrumb

  1. DCI Network
  2. Library
  3. Cancer Facts & Figures for African American/Black People 2022-2024

Primary tabs

  • View(active tab)
  • Revisions

Cancer Facts & Figures for African American/Black People 2022-2024

Click Here To View This Resource The content of this link is external and not affiliated with this site.
  • Description
Description
In 2020, there were 46.9 million Americans who identified as Black or African American, accounting for 14.2% of the total US population.1, 2 The Black population is the third-largest racial/ethnic group following White and Hispanic people and primarily resides in the South . The population includes ancestors of individuals brought to the US as slaves who largely identify as African American, as well as nearly 10% who are recent immigrants, mostly of African or Caribbean descent. The Black immigrant population has increased 5-fold over the past four decades, from 816,000 in 1980 to more than 4.3 million in 2019.3. Although racial classification is a social construct based on appearance, it remains useful for describing health patterns in the US because long-standing structural racism has contributed to inequalities in the social determinants of health. Although some cancer-associated genetic mutations are inherited, most health differences between population groups do not stem from biology, but from variations in socioeconomic status and access to medical care. Collectively, Black people have the highest death rates and shortest survival rates of any racial/ethnic group in the US for most cancers, largely driven by social mechanisms that are further explained on page 3. Notably, Black immigrants have lower cancer mortality than US-born Black people, highlighting the importance of where a person lives over race or biology.
Publication Date

28 September 2022

Posted On

28 September 2022

Licensing Information

All Rights Reserved

Topics
  • CancerSubscribe
  • Comments

Member Organizations

  • Logo for BIDMC

Contact

  • (617) 975-7646
  • yquintan@bidmc.harvard.edu
  • Yuri Quintana, Ph.D., Chief of the Division of Clinical Informatics, 133 Brookline Avenue, HVMA Annex, Suite 2200, Boston, MA 02215

Connect

Newsletter

Globe Logo DCI Network Logo Connecting Leaders
  • Events
  • Forums
  • Directories
  • News
  • Library
  • Groups
  • Courses
  • Blog
  • About Us
  • Search
  • Memberships
  • Featured Areas
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact Us
Copyright © 2022 Beth Israel Deaconess. All Rights Reserved. Powered by Alicanto 2.0