There has been a ‘marked reduction' in the number of children dying from cancer in Ireland in recent decades, a new report has shown.

According to the latest findings on childhood cancer trends by the National Cancer Registry Ireland (NCRI), mortality rates have fallen significantly since the mid-1960s, by an average of 2.5-3.5% per year.

Between the 1950s and 1970s, 50-60 children were dying from cancer every year, but since the 1990s, this figure has dropped to below 25 per year.

This is despite the fact that incidence has risen, largely due to increases in the childhood population and improvements in diagnosis.

The report noted that an average of 137 cases of cancer were diagnosed every year between 1994 and 2014 in children aged 14 and under.

The five-year survival rate now averages 81%, with major improvements seen in survival rates for leukaemias and lymphomas.

Between 1994 and 2014, 2,873 children aged 14 and under were diagnosed with cancer and by the end of 2014, most of these (2,289) were still alive. The majority of survivors had been diagnosed with leukaemia (31%) or tumours of the brain/central nervous system (23%).

Survival variation between boys and girls was ‘relatively minor and not statistically significant'.

Commenting on the figures, NCRI director, Prof Kerri Clough-Gorr, noted that while childhood cancers are ‘thankfully rare, their impact on families is high, and the potential loss of years of life averages much higher than for adult cancers'.

"Treatment improvements have led to marked reductions in mortality from childhood cancer, but further work is needed to follow up the growing numbers of survivors of childhood cancer who may experience long-term health consequences related to their cancer treatment," she said.

The report can be viewed here