WHO Predicts 77% Rise in Cancer Cases by 2050

According to reports from the World Health Organization’s cancer agency, the number of new cancer cases globally is projected to reach 35 million in 2050, which is 77 percent higher than the figure in 2022.

A survey conducted by the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) cited tobacco, alcohol, obesity and air pollution as key factors in the predicted rise.

In a statement, the IARC said that,

“Certainly the new estimates highlight the scale of cancer today and indeed the growing burden of cancer that is predicted over the next years and decades."

There were an estimated 9.7 million cancer deaths in 2022, the IARC said in its biannual report based on data from 185 countries and 36 cancers.

Around one in five people develop cancer in their lifetimes, with one in nine men and one in 12 women dying from the disease, it added.

“The rapidly-growing global cancer burden reflects both population ageing and growth, as well as changes to people’s exposure to risk factors, several of which are associated with socioeconomic development. Tobacco, alcohol and obesity are key factors behind the increasing incidence of cancer, with air pollution still a key driver of environmental risk factors,” the IARC said.

Lower-income burden

The IARC also pinpointed the influence of geographical location on threat of cancer.

The agency noted that most-developed countries are expected to record the greatest increases in case numbers, with an additional 4.8 million new cases predicted in 2050 compared with 2022 estimates.

But in terms of percentages, countries on the low end of the Human Development Index (HDI) used by the United Nations as a marker of societal and economic development will experience the greatest proportional increase, up 142 percent.

Meanwhile, countries in the medium range are predicted to record a 99-percent increase, it said.

“One of the biggest challenges we are seeing is the proportional increases in the cancer burden are going to be most striking in the lower income, lower human development countries. They are going to see a projected increase of well over doubling of the burden by 2050".