In the light of data from the admission register of the Cracow Branch of the Oncology Centre percent values are presented of actual 5-year survival rate of patients treated for the first time in the period 1979-1981. The group of neoplasms with relatively good prognosis (i.e. survival rate for 5 years over 50%) included six sites: skin, lip, endometrium and cervix, larynx, and Hodgkin's disease. The group of poor prognosis (5-year survival rate below 30%) included: cancer of the kidney, nasopharynx and oropharynx, nasal cavity and nasal sinuses, tongue, rectum, prostate, bladder, lungs, stomach and oesophagus, and brain tumours. The present situation was compared with data from the preceding years and with the survival rates in the populations of Cracow and the USA.