Lung cancer is the single deadliest form of cancer worldwide and accounts for approximately 20% of cancer deaths in the U.S. Lung cancer deaths climbed steadily from 1930 through 1990, when 91.1 out of every 100,000 men died of lung cancer. Death rates for women continued to rise until 2002, when they peaked at 41.6 per 100,000. Fortunately, lung cancer death has been falling since that time for both males and females due to both a decline in smoking and advances in detection and treatment. In 2019, just 40.1 men and 28.2 women in 100,000 died of the illness.