The study, which was carried out by four major French institutes, looked into the three most commonly occurring cancers in France – breast, prostate and colorectal.

 

The stats were taken from a comparison of two separate five-year blocks – 1989 to 1993 and 2005 to 2010.

 

And the report authors noted that the findings were “encouraging”.

 

Perhaps most encouraging of all was with prostate cancer, the most common cancer that affects French men, which saw a jump from a survival rate of 72 to 94 percent.

 

Breast cancer, which remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among French women, saw a jump in survival rates from 80 percent to 87 percent. 

 

This improvement was put down to “major therapeutic advances” in the early 2000s, and a higher proportion of cancers detected at an early stage thanks to improved screening practices, the researchers noted.

 

Lastly, colorectal cancer survival rates improved over the period from 54 to 63 percent. 

 

The study did not include data for lung cancer, which is the fourth most commonly occurring cancer among the French. It is the most fatal cancer for men, and the second most fatal for women after breast cancer. 

 

France's National Cancer Institute reported that even though survival rates are improving, there are still tens of thousands who are affected each year. 

 

The latest stats from the institute, from 2012, showed that France had 57,000 new cases of prostate cancer, 48,000 reports of breast cancer, and 42,000 cases of colorectal cancers. 

 

Tuesday's report was jointly carried out by the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance, the French National Cancer Institute, the Francim Cancer Register, and the Lyon Hospitals.