In the case of statistics commonly used to describe a woman's risk of developing breast cancer, many groups have reported that a woman's lifetime risk is 1 in 9. Lifetime risk is the likelihood that a newborn girl will develop breast cancer sometime during her entire life. The 1-in-9 statistic does not apply to women of all ages. The risk of developing breast cancer in their next 1 or 2 decades of life may be considerably lower than the risk perceived by most women.