Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer death in Korea, a highest endemic area of hepatitis B virus infection throughout the world. Because of the delayed diagnosis and decompensated cirrhosis, the current situation for the longterm survival of HCC patients is not optimistic, but still pessimistic. However, recently, HCC screening became a popular health program especially for a high risk group, so that the detection rate of small-size HCC is increasing, and also the various available therapeutic methods such as hepatic resection, percutaneous ethanol injection therapy (PEIT), and radiofrequency therapy (RFT) are all effective for the early stage of localized HCC. In epidemiological viewpoint, HCC shows a heterogeneous pattern in natural course and in survival. These heterogeneity is correlated with various factors, including age at the diagnosis, sex, tumor stage at the diagnosis, the presence of cirrhosis and hepatic failure, a kind of treatment protocol, and various biological features, including tumor growth pattern, differentiation grade, proliferating activity, tumor cell type, vascular invasion, alpha-fetoprotein, etc. To help the assessment of clinical situation and the prediction of clinical course of individual patients with HCC, this review will introduce various prognostic factors in relation to the survival of HCC patients.