{"entity":{"id":"paper-ferlay-cancer-statistics-2020-overview-ijc-2021","kind":"paper","name":"Ferlay 2021: cancer statistics for the year 2020, an overview","aka":[],"tldr":"IARC's overview of the 2020 world cancer estimates, about 19.3 million new cases, presented by cancer type, sex and world region, alongside the methods and data used and a note that the figures predate the effects of the pandemic.","summary":"Ferlay and colleagues presented an overview of GLOBOCAN 2020: the sources and methods for estimating incidence and mortality for 36 cancers in 185 countries and the main patterns by cancer, sex and region. They reported about 19.3 million new cases and about 10 million deaths in 2020, with female breast cancer the most commonly diagnosed cancer and lung cancer the leading cause of death, and they noted that the estimates reflect pre-pandemic trends because registry data lag by several years.","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"Full text (DOI)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ijc.33588"},{"label":"IARC Global Cancer Observatory","url":"https://gco.iarc.who.int/today"}],"tags":[],"related":["paper-sung-globocan-2020-cacancer-2021"],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":["iarc"],"pathways":[],"terms":["incidence-vs-prevalence","mortality"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"journal":"International Journal of Cancer","year":2021,"doi":"10.1002/ijc.33588","authors":"Ferlay J, Colombet M, Soerjomataram I, et al.","paperType":"observational","findings":["About 19.3 million new cases and about 10 million cancer deaths worldwide in 2020.","Female breast cancer the most diagnosed cancer; lung cancer the leading cause of cancer death.","Estimates rest on registry data from earlier years and do not capture pandemic disruption to diagnosis."],"whatItMeans":"This is the methods and overview companion to the widely cited Sung 2021 report and the reference for how the 2020 figures were built.","caveats":["Modelled estimates for countries with limited registries.","Superseded by GLOBOCAN 2022."],"changedPractice":false},"route":"/key-papers/paper-ferlay-cancer-statistics-2020-overview-ijc-2021/","neighbours":{"paper":[{"id":"paper-sung-globocan-2020-cacancer-2021","kind":"paper","name":"Sung 2021: GLOBOCAN 2020, the year breast cancer overtook lung cancer as the most diagnosed cancer","route":"/key-papers/paper-sung-globocan-2020-cacancer-2021/"}],"institution":[{"id":"iarc","kind":"institution","name":"International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC / WHO)","route":"/institutions/iarc/"}],"term":[{"id":"incidence-vs-prevalence","kind":"term","name":"Incidence versus prevalence","route":"/terms/incidence-vs-prevalence/"},{"id":"mortality","kind":"term","name":"Mortality","route":"/terms/mortality/"}],"technology":[{"id":"cancer-registries-surveillance","kind":"technology","name":"Cancer registries and population surveillance","route":"/technologies/cancer-registries-surveillance/"}]}}