Cancer survival rate varies widely between countries, according to a worldwide study of the cancers of the breast (women), colon, rectum and prostate. The five-year survival rate for prostate cancer is the highest in the United States as compared to any of the 31 countries studied as part of the study published in Lancet Oncology. However, in the US, cancer survival in black men and women is systematically and substantially lower than in white men and women. The study, called Concord, is the first worldwide analysis of cancer survival, with standard quality-control procedures and identical analytic methods for all datasets. It provides directly comparable data on 1.9 million adult cancer patients (aged between 15 and 99 years) from 101 cancer registries in 31 countries on five continents. Japan is the only Asian country included in the data. Until now, direct comparisons of cancer patient survival between rich and poor countries have not generally been available. Five-year relative survival for breast cancer in women ranged from 80 per cent or higher in North America, Sweden, Japan, Finland and Australia to less than 60 per cent in Brazil and Slovakia, and below 40 per cent in Algeria. Survival for white women in the U S at 84.7 per cent was 14 per cent higher than for blacks . women at 70.9 per cent. For colorectal cancer, five-year survival was higher in North America, Japan, Australia and some west European countries and lower in Algeria, Brazil and in eastern European countries. Similarly, prostate cancer survival was higher in the US (92%) than in all 30 of the other participating countries.