Researchers say factors including prevention, early detection and better treatments are helping make gains against the disease.
The study finds that people born since the 1930s have enjoyed a decreased risk of cancer death at every age.
People in the youngest age group, those 35 to 45, had a decline greater than 25 percent per decade.
In childhood cancers, advances in treatments for leukemia and lymphoma may mean many more people can survive cancers that were once considered a death sentence.