Survival following cancer was analysed in relation to ethnic group among children diagnosed in Britain during 1981-1996 and treated at paediatric oncology centres by members of the UK Children's Cancer Study Group. Survival was analysed for 11 diagnostic groups: acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), acute non-lymphocytic leukaemia, Hodgkin's disease, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, astrocytoma, primitive neuroectodermal tumour, neuroblastoma, Wilms' tumour, osteosarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma and rhabdomyosarcoma. There were no significant differences in survival between White and non-White children over the study period as a whole. Among children with ALL, however, the relative risk of death allowing for period of diagnosis, age and white blood count was 1.25 for those of South Asian ethnic origin compared with Whites (P = 0.057).