Half of people diagnosed with cancer today will survive their disease for at least 10 years, according to figures from Cancer Research UK.
In the early 1970s just a quarter of people diagnosed with cancer survived 10 years, the charity said.
Women with breast cancer now have a 78% chance of surviving at least a decade, compared to 40% 40 years ago.
In addition, ten-year survival for men with testicular cancer has jumped from 69% to 98% since the 1970s.
For people diagnosed with malignant melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, 10-year survival has leapt from 46% to 89%.
However, just 1% of pancreatic cancer patients and 5% of lung cancer patients diagnosed today are expected to survive 10 years.
Survival from oesophageal cancer is low at 12%, although 40 years ago it was 4%. Brain tumour survival is also very low at just 13%, despite more than doubling in the last 40 years, Cancer Research said.
The charity is setting out a new strategy aiming that 75% of all cancer patients diagnosed in 20 years' time will survive at least 10 years.
This includes ensuing cancer patients are diagnosed at the earliest stage of the disease. Cancer Research is also intending to fund more scientists from different disciplines to strengthen research.
Professor Michel Coleman, head of Cancer Research UK's Cancer Survival Group at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, whose team produced the survival figures, said: "These results come from detailed analysis of the survival of more than 7 million cancer patients diagnosed in England and Wales since the 1970s. They show just how far we've come in improving cancer survival, but they also shine a spotlight on areas where much more needs to be done.
"We want to see people with every type of cancer get the same chances of living a long life. This won't be easy, but the progress reported here over the last 40 years shows we're moving in the right direction."
