Pancreatic cancer statistics

Pancreatic cancer is the 12th most common cancer worldwide.

Latest pancreatic cancer data

Pancreatic cancer is the 12th most common cancer worldwide. It is the 12th most common cancer in men and the 11th most common cancer in women. There were more than 495,000 new cases of pancreatic cancer in 2020.

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

Pancreatic cancer rates

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

RankCountryNumberASR/100,000
World495,7734.9
1Hungary2,49911.2
2Uruguay73210.7
3Japan44,3079.9
4Slovakia1,0789.6
5Czechia2,4669.5
6Austria2,0119.0
7Armenia4378.9
8Estonia2958.9
9Malta988.9
10Germany21,5418.8
Rank (men)CountryNumberASR/100,000
World262,8655.7
1Hungary1,20113.7
2French Guiana1413.0
3Uruguay34412.8
4Slovakia55212.0
5Armenia22911.9
6Latvia19411.9
7Japan21,81111.6
8Montenegro6311.6
9Estonia13711.5
10Moldova30111.3
Rank (women)CountryNumberASR/100,000
World232,9084.1
1Hungary1,2989.2
2Uruguay3888.9
3Japan22,4968.2
4Czechia1,2098.0
5Austria1,0308.0
6Sweden1,1247.9
7Finland7217.8
8France, Guadeloupe427.7
9Germany10,6957.6
10Denmark6037.6

Pancreatic cancer deaths

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

RankCountryNumberASR/100,000
World466,0034.5
1Hungary2,34810.2
2Uruguay70010.2
3Armenia4248.6
4Czechia2,2078.5
5Finland1,3678.5
6Moldova5488.3
7Germany20,6838.2
8Austria1,9408.1
9Serbia1,5618.0
10Israel1,1468.0
Rank (men)CountryNumberASR/100,000
World246,8405.3
1Hungary1,12612.6
2Uruguay32712.2
3Armenia22111.5
4Moldova28710.7
5Latvia16910.6
6Montenegro5910.6
7Czechia1,13410.3
8Turkey4,71610.2
9Slovakia46710.1
10Bulgaria6969.9
Rank (women)CountryNumberASR/100,000
World219,1633.8
1Uruguay3738.5
2Hungary1,2228.4
3Finland6967.3
4France, Guadeloupe407.2
5Austria9897.1
6Czechia1,0737.0
7Germany10,1666.8
8Denmark5646.8
9Sweden1,0476.7
10Malta426.6

What causes pancreatic cancer?

There is evidence that the following are associated with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer: smoking and family history, particularly where more than one family member is involved.

There is also strong evidence that:

There is some evidence that:

  • consumption of red meat might increase the risk of pancreatic cancer
  • consumption of processed meat might increase the risk of pancreatic cancer
  • consumption of foods containing saturated fatty acids might increase the risk of pancreatic cancer
  • consumption of alcoholic drinks might increase the risk of pancreatic cancer
  • consumption of foods and beverages containing fructose might increase the risk of pancreatic cancer

> Read more about what causes and what protects against pancreatic 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.