# Chen 2016: Cancer statistics in China, 2015

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-chen-cancer-statistics-china-2015-cacancer-2016/  
OnCo record `paper-chen-cancer-statistics-china-2015-cacancer-2016` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

The first national cancer estimate for China built from population registries, projecting about 4.3 million new cancer cases in 2015, with lung cancer the most common cancer and leading cause of cancer death, and stomach, oesophageal and liver cancers far more prominent than in Western countries.

## Summary

Chen and colleagues at China's National Cancer Center used data from 72 local population-based cancer registries covering 2009 to 2011, about 6.5% of the population, to project cancer incidence and mortality in China for 2015. They estimated about 4.3 million new cases and 2.8 million deaths. Lung cancer was the most common cancer and the leading cause of death, followed by stomach, oesophageal, liver and colorectal cancers, and the report documented rising incidence in cities alongside higher mortality in rural areas, as well as a large burden of infection-related cancers.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Journal: CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians
- Year: 2016
- DOI: 10.3322/caac.21338
- Authors: Chen W, Zheng R, Baade PD, et al.
- Findings: About 4,292,000 new cancer cases and 2,814,000 cancer deaths projected for China in 2015.; Lung cancer the most common cancer and leading cause of cancer death; stomach, oesophageal, liver and colorectal cancers next.; Based on 72 population-based registries covering about 6.5% of the population; rural areas had higher mortality than cities.
- What it means: China accounts for roughly a quarter of the world's cancer cases, and this paper is the reference that made its burden legible internationally. It explains why Chinese trial programmes and drug pipelines concentrate on lung, stomach, oesophageal and liver cancers.
- Caveats: Registries covered a small, mainly urban share of the population, so estimates involve substantial extrapolation.; Later National Cancer Center reports have updated the figures.

## Sources

- Full text (DOI): https://doi.org/10.3322/caac.21338

## Connected records

- key papers: [Bray 2018: GLOBOCAN 2018, worldwide incidence and mortality for 36 cancers](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-bray-globocan-2018-cacancer-2018/)
- cancers: [Colorectal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal/), [Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/gastric/), [Hepatocellular carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/hcc/), [Non-small-cell lung cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/nsclc/)
- institutions: [National Cancer Center of China](https://onco.cc/institutions/ncc-china/)
- terms: [Incidence versus prevalence](https://onco.cc/terms/incidence-vs-prevalence/), [Mortality](https://onco.cc/terms/mortality/)
- technologies: [Cancer registries and population surveillance](https://onco.cc/technologies/cancer-registries-surveillance/)

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