Yes. Brain tumours kill more children and adults under 40 in the UK than any other cancer, a point UK charities and the government repeated on October 14, 2026, when Prime Minister Andy Burnham met swimmer and campaigner Archie Goodburn and announced an expert review of brain cancer research, a national action plan, a new national brain cancer clinical lead and faster regulatory routes for rare-disease drugs.
Official figures published with the GOV.UK announcement show that in England in 2023, malignant brain cancer caused 278 of the 1,711 cancer deaths among people under 40 (about 16%), and 3,792 deaths across all ages. Separately, The Brain Tumour Charity’s analysis of 2021 UK data counted 372 under-40 deaths from malignant brain and central nervous system tumours, compared with 257 from leukaemia.
Source: GOV.UK, “Brain cancer patients to see faster development of new treatments” (October 14, 2026).
Image: MRI scans showing a brain tumour. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.