By 2050, new cancer diagnoses are expected to reach 35 million worldwide — up from the 20 million cases diagnosed in 2022, according to the American Cancer Society's 2024 report on global cancer statistics.
The report was published April 4 in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. The new estimates were based solely on projected population growth, researchers said.
"The rise in projected cancer cases by 2050 is solely due to the aging and growth of the population, assuming current incidence rates remain unchanged," Hyuna Sung, PhD, an author on the new report and a principal scientist of cancer surveillance at the ACS, said in a news release. "Notably, the prevalence of major risk factors such as consumption of unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, heavy alcohol consumption, and cigarette smoking are increasing in many parts of the world and will likely exacerbate the future burden of cancer barring any large scale interventions."
Here are four more key findings from the report:
- About 20 million cancer cases were newly diagnosed in 2022, and nearly 10 million people died from cancer worldwide.
- Globally, lung cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and leading cause of cancer death. There were nearly 2.5 million lung cancer cases diagnosed in 2022, and nearly 2 million deaths.
- In men, lung cancer incidence is followed by prostate and colorectal cancers, and by liver and colorectal cancers for mortality rates.
- In women, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and leading cause of cancer death, followed by lung, colorectal and cervical cancers.
See a breakdown of the estimated growth rates in men and women by cancer type in the U.S. here.