Gallbladder cancer statistics

Gallbladder cancer is the 23rd most common cancer worldwide.

Latest gallbladder cancer data

Gallbladder cancer is the 23rd most common cancer worldwide. It is the 23rd most common cancer in men and the 20th most common cancer in women.

There were more than 115,000 new cases of gallbladder cancer in 2020.

The 10 countries with the highest rates of gallbladder cancer and the highest number of deaths from gallbladder cancer in 2020 are shown in the tables below.

ASR = age-standardised rates. These are a summary measure of the rate of disease that a population would have if it had a standard age structure. Standardisation is necessary when comparing populations that differ with respect to age because age has a powerful influence on the risk of dying from cancer.

Gallbladder cancer rates

The following 3 tables show total global gallbladder cancer incidence and rates in 2020, followed by the figures for men and women. Bolivia had the highest overall rate of gallbladder cancer in 2020, followed by Chile.

RankCountryNumberASR/100,000
World115,9491.2
1Bolivia1,0128.5
2Chile1,7625.6
3Bangladesh7,2524.9
4Nepal1,0154.1
5South Korea3,4372.9
6North Korea1,0382.7
7Peru1,0242.6
8Algeria1,0562.5
9Slovakia3102.5
10Libya1292.4
Rank (men)CountryNumberASR/100,000
World41,0620.9
1Bolivia4007.3
2Chile5133.6
3North Korea4603.3
4South Korea1,5983.2
5Nepal3152.9
6Bangladesh1,9212.7
7Oman312.7
8Gaza Strip and West Bank222.0
9Japan4,0131.8
10Thailand9931.8
Rank (women)CountryNumberASR/100,000
World74,8871.4
1Bolivia6129.6
2Bangladesh5,3317.2
3Chile1,2497.2
4Nepal7005.1
5Peru7783.9
6Algeria7433.6
7Libya1033.5
8Slovakia2323.2
9French Polynesia63.0
10Pakistan2,1622.8

Gallbladder cancer deaths

The following 3 tables show total global gallbladder cancer mortality in 2020, followed by the figures for men and women. Bolivia had the highest overall mortality rate from gallbladder cancer in 2020, followed by Bangladesh.

RankCountryNumberASR/100,000
World84,6950.8
1Bolivia7135.8
2Bangladesh5,7423.9
3Chile1,1433.5
4Nepal7563.1
5North Korea8742.3
6Libya991.8
7Pakistan2,6301.7
8Bhutan111.7
9South Korea1,9971.6
10Algeria6841.6
Rank (men)CountryNumberASR/100,000
World30,2650.7
1Bolivia2935.2
2North Korea4072.9
3Chile3322.3
4Nepal2412.2
5Bangladesh1,5262.1
6Oman231.9
7South Korea8721.7
8Bhutan51.6
9Papua New Guinea291.5
10Gaza Strip and West Bank161.4
Rank (women)CountryNumberASR/100,000
World54,4301.0
1Bolivia4206.3
2Bangladesh4,2165.7
3Chile8114.6
4Nepal5153.8
5Libya802.7
6Pakistan1,8732.4
7Algeria4842.3
8Peru4522.2
9São Tomé and Príncipe22.2
10North Korea4672.0

What causes gallbladder cancer?

There is strong evidence that:

Other causes, with the exception of gallstones, have not been established.

> Read more about what can cause and what can protect against gallbladder cancer

Notes

The data on this page comes from the Global Cancer Observatory, owned by the World Health Organization/International Agency for Research on Cancer, and is used with permission. The cancer incidence figures and ASRs were compiled using the data available here (last accessed 23 March 2022). For queries about our cancer statistics please email the Research Interpretation team: ri@wcrf.org.