More women under the age of 50 are getting cancer compared with men in the same age group, the American Cancer Society said Thursday. 

In 2002, women under the age of 50 had a 51% higher incidence than men, but that jumped to 82% higher in 2021 — the most recent year for which data is available.

While the cancer rate for people aged 0 to 49 has long been higher among women because of breast and thyroid cancer, the organization noted that lung cancer among women surpassed the incidence among men for the first time in 2021 for adults under the age of 65.

The good news is that fewer people are dying from cancer. The American Cancer Society cited “big wins in smoking cessation, early cancer detection and treatment advancements” for reducing cancer deaths by 34% over the last three decades. Cancer deaths have declined the most in the four most common types: breast, colorectal, lung and prostate.

Still, cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States and the leading cause of death in people under the age of 85.

The organization said large disparities exist among racial groups, with Black people being twice as likely to die from prostate, stomach and uterine cancer compared with white people. American Indian and Alaska Native people are two to three times more likely to die from cancers of the cervix, kidney, liver and stomach compared with white people.

The American Cancer Society attributed the disparity in cancer incidence and death rates to discriminatory practices that limit upward mobility for certain ethnic groups.