Global cancer rates could go up 75% by 2030, study suggests

Jun 2 2012

"The number of people with cancer is set to surge by more than 75 percent across the world by 2030, with particularly sharp rises in poor countries as they adopt unhealthy 'Westernized' lifestyles," according to a study published Friday in the Lancet, Reuters reports (Kelland, 5/31). "If current population trends continue, the number of people with cancer worldwide will go up to 22.2 million by 2030, up from 12.7 million in 2008," CNN's "The Chart" notes, adding, "Cases are expected to surge in poorer parts of the world, which are ill-equipped to handle the burden" (5/31).

"While improving living standards in lower-income countries may lead to a decrease in infection-related cancers such as cervical and stomach cancer, that may be offset by a surge in the types of cancer associated with smoking, obesity and diet which currently affect mainly richer countries," Bloomberg writes (Kitamura, 5/31). "Cancer is already the leading cause of death in many high-income countries and is set to become a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the next decades in every region of the world," said study author Freddie Bray of the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, the Daily Mail reports. "This study serves as an important reference point in drawing attention to the need for global action to reduce the increasing burden of cancer," Bray added, the news service notes (5/31).