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The IARC estimate that about 20 million people were diagnosed with cancer in 2022 and 9.7 million died of it, with lung cancer the most common and most lethal, breast cancer second, and the total expected to rise by about three quarters by 2050 as populations grow and age.
GLOBOCAN 2022, produced by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, estimates new cases and deaths for 36 cancer types in 185 countries from national registries and modelling. It counted close to 20 million new cases (including non-melanoma skin cancer) and 9.7 million deaths in 2022. Lung cancer was the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer death, followed by female breast cancer for incidence and colorectal cancer for both. About one in five people develop cancer in their lifetime. The report projects around 35 million new cases a year by 2050, an increase of roughly 77% driven mostly by demographic change, and it is the reference that country pages, prevalence charts and policy papers cite.
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.
This series is the standard reference for US cancer numbers and the source of most headlines about cancer in younger adults. The gap between falling mortality and rising incidence is the argument for both continued treatment advances and stronger prevention and screening.
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.
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.
Shares Freddie Bray, Bray 2018: GLOBOCAN 2018, worldwide incidence and mortality for 36 cancers, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC / WHO), HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer.
Shares Freddie Bray, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC / WHO), HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer, Colorectal cancer.
Shares Sung 2021: GLOBOCAN 2020, the year breast cancer overtook lung cancer as the most diagnosed cancer, Bray 2018: GLOBOCAN 2018, worldwide incidence and mortality for 36 cancers, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
Shares Freddie Bray, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC / WHO), HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
Shares Bray 2018: GLOBOCAN 2018, worldwide incidence and mortality for 36 cancers, HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer, Colorectal cancer, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
Shares Sung 2021: GLOBOCAN 2020, the year breast cancer overtook lung cancer as the most diagnosed cancer, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC / WHO).
Shares Bray 2018: GLOBOCAN 2018, worldwide incidence and mortality for 36 cancers, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC / WHO).
Shares Bray 2018: GLOBOCAN 2018, worldwide incidence and mortality for 36 cancers, Colorectal cancer, Non-small-cell lung cancer.