(AP) - A recent report by the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services says there has been a decline in cancer mortality rates in the state.

Citing a Monday agency release , news outlets report there was a 12 percent drop in all-site cancer deaths from the periods of 2000 through 2004 to 2010 through 2014. The release says the nation saw an overall decline of 14 percent when comparing those same periods. Delaware's national ranking for all-site cancer mortality remains unchanged from last year, with Delaware coming in 16th. The state was ranked second in the 1990s.

Zeinab Baba is an epidemiologist for the agency's cancer control program. Baba says the decrease has been happening for the last decade for multiple reasons, such as finding cancer at earlier stages and technological advances.