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In 2006, an estimated 9,710 cases of invasive cervical cancer were diagnosed in the United States and an estimated 3,700 women died from the disease. Globally, cervical cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in women, with an estimated 510,000 newly diagnosed cervical cancer cases and 288,000 deaths.

The National Cancer Institute estimates that there will be 11,150 new cases and 3,670 deaths from cervical cancer in the United States in 2007.

Half of all women who develop cervical cancer in the United States have never been screened, and an additional 10% have not been screened within 5 years of their diagnosis.

The highest rates of cervical cancer are found in underserved, resource-poor populations of women in whom at least 80% of all cervical cancer and related mortality occurs. The number of cases exceeds 50 per 100,000 women per year in regions of Africa, Central and South America, and Micronesia.

In the United States, cervical cancer incidence remains about 60% higher in African American women (10.5/100,000) compared with Caucasian women (6.6/100,000) and mortality among African American women is the highest (4.7/100,000) of any racial or ethnic group. Rates are particularly high among those living in the rural South (e.g., the Mississippi Delta) and some urban areas (Washington, DC). Other high risk groups include:

• Hispanic women living along the US-Mexico border
• Caucasian women in Appalachia, rural New York State, and Northern New England
• American Indian women living in the northern Plains
• Alaskan Natives
• Vietnamese Americans.

The economic burden associated with HPV infection for the United States is estimated to range from $1 to $6 billion dollars annually making HPV the second most costly sexually transmitted infection, second only to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).