In the UK the figures show that breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women. Overall about 1 in 9 women will develop breast cancer at some time during their life.

We don't fully understand all the reasons why women develop breast cancer. But, there are factors that are known to increase your risk. These are called risk factors for breast cancer.

Recent research has looked at whether the risk of breast cancer is different for women of South Asian origin (this includes anyone who was born in, or whose family came from, Bangladesh, India or Pakistan). The figures show that although breast cancer is still the most common type of cancer to affect South Asian women, the risk is about one third less than the average for other women in the UK. This means that the chance of a woman from a South Asian background developing breast cancer is about 1 in 14.

There is some evidence that these figures may be changing with time, and that for younger South Asian women, who were born and brought up in the UK, the level of risk may be increasing a little. This suggests that over several generations the risk may become the same in South Asian women as the rest of the UK population.