Stomach cancer statistics

Stomach cancer is the 5th most common cancer worldwide.

Latest stomach cancer data

Stomach cancer is the 5th most common cancer worldwide. It is the 4th most common cancer in men and the 7th most common cancer in women. There were more than 1 million new cases of stomach cancer in 2020.

The 10 countries with the highest rates of stomach cancer and the highest number of deaths from stomach 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.

Stomach cancer rates

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

RankCountryNumberASR/100,000
World1,089,10311.1
1Mongolia86032.5
2Japan138,47031.6
3South Korea28,71327.9
4Tajikistan1,30123.4
5China478,50820.6
6Kyrgyzstan1,02719.7
7Cabo Verde8218.4
8Bhutan11817.7
9Iran14,65617.5
10Kazakhstan3,35715.8
Rank (men)CountryNumberASR/100,000
World719,52315.8
1Japan94,95048.1
2Mongolia56447.2
3South Korea19,06639.7
4Kyrgyzstan69031.3
5Cabo Verde5229.6
6China331,62929.5
7Tajikistan74428.7
8Kazakhstan2,12524.6
9Belarus1,64024.0
10North Korea3,42822.9
Rank (women)CountryNumberASR/100,000
World369,5807.0
1Mongolia29620.7
2Tajikistan55718.7
3South Korea9,64717.6
4Japan43,52017.3
5Peru2,96813.6
6Iran5,05712.5
7Bhutan3912.5
8China146,87912.3
9Guatemala84511.3
10Kyrgyzstan33711.1

Stomach cancer deaths

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

RankCountryNumberASR/100,000
World768,7937.7
1Mongolia63324.6
2Tajikistan1,09219.7
3China373,78915.9
4Bhutan10515.9
5Kyrgyzstan81015.7
6Iran12,99415.5
7Cabo Verde6614.8
8Viet Nam14,61512.6
9Myanmar6,27612.0
10North Korea4,34611.9
Rank (men)CountryNumberASR/100,000
World502,78811.0
1Mongolia42036.5
2Kyrgyzstan56526.2
3Cabo Verde4325.5
4Tajikistan63624.7
5China256,51222.8
6Bhutan7220.4
7Iran8,53419.9
8North Korea2,77618.6
9Kazakhstan1,57718.4
10Vietnam9,00317.8
Rank (women)CountryNumberASR/100,000
World266,0054.9
1Tajikistan45615.4
2Mongolia21315.2
3Iran4,46011.0
4Bhutan3310.6
5Peru2,31410.3
6Mali46410.0
7China117,2779.5
8Guatemala7179.5
9Myanmar2,7479.2
10São Tomé and Príncipe58.6

What causes stomach cancer?

There is evidence that the following are associated with an increased risk of stomach cancer: smoking, helicobacter pylori infection and industrial chemical exposure.

There is also strong evidence that:

There is some evidence that:

  • consumption of grilled or barbecued meat and fish might increase the risk of stomach cancer
  • consumption of processed meat might increase the risk of stomach non-cardia cancer
  • consuming little or no fruit might increase the risk of stomach cancer
  • consumption of citrus fruit might decrease the risk of stomach cardia cancer

> Read more about what can cause and what can protect against stomach 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.