International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC / WHO)

If a childhood exposure to colibactin-producing Escherichia coli writes APC mutations into the colon decades before a tumour appears, then the rise in early-onset bowel cancer may be preventable by something done in childhood rather than by screening alone.

This is the number behind almost every statement about how much cancer there is. It shows the burden shifting towards low- and middle-income countries and towards older populations, which is why prevention, screening and affordable treatment in those settings decide the global trend. OnCo's country and prevalence pages draw on the same GLOBOCAN release.

There is no safe level of alcohol for cancer risk, and the risk is highest for cancers of the mouth, throat, oesophagus, liver, bowel and breast. Public awareness is low; most people do not know alcohol causes breast cancer. Warning labels and minimum pricing are the policy levers being debated.

This is the methods and overview companion to the widely cited Sung 2021 report and the reference for how the 2020 figures were built.

This report marked the shift of the global cancer burden towards breast cancer and towards lower-income countries, and it is the baseline most 2020s policy documents cite. The GLOBOCAN 2022 release has since updated the totals.

One dose protects. WHO endorsed one- or two-dose schedules in 2022, halving the cost and the logistics of vaccinating girls, which is decisive for India (about 127,500 cervical cancers a year) and for the global elimination target. It also removed the main barrier to India's national programme with its home-made vaccine.

This paper is the place to check how solid a given country's GLOBOCAN 2018 figure is, which matters when the numbers are used to argue for national cancer plans.

This was the most cited description of the global cancer burden until the 2020 release and is the reference behind many national cancer plans of the late 2010s. Its country-level comparisons showed where prevention, such as HPV and hepatitis B vaccination and tobacco control, would have the largest effect.