Cancer’s global death toll is expected to increase at an “alarming pace” over the next two decades, rising to 22 million new cases and 13 million deaths per year.
That’s the message of a new report from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the arm of the World Health Organization that tracks cancer’s spread and releases fresh figures on the disease every five years.
The latest edition, based on statistics from 2012, estimates that 60 per cent of new cancer cases and 70 per cent of cancer deaths happen in the developing world, reinforcing the divide between rich and poor nations. In some well-off Western countries, you’re likelier to get cancer. In less-developed countries, cancer is likelier to kill you.
Denmark, France, Australia, Belgium and Norway recorded the highest incidence of new cancers (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) in 2012, but all five plunged down the list when it came to cancer mortality. Canada followed a similar pattern, placing 12th in cancer incidence, with about 295 new cases for every 100,000 people and 64th in mortality, with about 103 deaths per 100,000.
The countries with the highest cancer mortality rates in 2012 were Mongolia, Hungary, Armenia, Serbia and Uruguay.
Click here to read the full article in the Globe and Mail
February 5, 2014