The Continuous Update Project Panel judged that there was convincing evidence that arsenic in drinking water and high-dose beta-carotene supplements (when taken by people who smoke, or who used to smoke tobacco) are causes of lung cancer.
Lung cancer incidence
The countries with the top 20 highest incidence of lung cancer in 2012 are given in the tables below.
Both sexes
- Hungary had the highest rate of lung cancer, followed by Serbia and North Korea.
- About 58 per cent of lung cancer cases occurred in less developed countries.
- The highest incidence of lung cancer was in Northern America and Europe; and the lowest incidence in Africa and, Latin America and Caribbean.
Rank |
Country |
Age-Standardised Rate per 100,000 (World) |
---|
1 |
Hungary |
51.6 |
2 |
Serbia |
45.6 |
3 |
North Korea |
44.2 |
4 |
Macedonia |
40.8 |
5 |
New Caledonia |
40.1 |
6 |
Montenegro |
39.6 |
7 |
Denmark |
39.2 |
8 |
US |
38.4 |
9 |
Poland |
38.0 |
10 |
Canada |
37.9 |
11 |
The Netherlands |
37.2 |
12 |
French Polynesia |
37.1 |
13 |
Belgium |
36.8 |
14 |
China |
36.1 |
15 |
Armenia |
35.9 |
16 |
France (metropolitan) |
35.0 |
17 |
Guam |
34.7 |
17 |
Turkey |
34.7 |
19 |
Croatia |
34.3 |
20 |
Slovenia |
33.9 |
Source: Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Ervik M, Dikshit R, Eser S, Mathers C, Rebelo M, Parkin DM, Forman D, Bray, F. GLOBOCAN 2012 v1.1, Cancer Incidence and Mortality Worldwide: IARC CancerBase No. 11 [Internet]. Lyon, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer; 2014. Available from: http://globocan.iarc.fr, accessed on 16/01/2015.
Men
- Hungary has the highest rate of lung cancer in 2012, followed by Armenia and Macedonia.
- About 61 per cent of lung cancer cases occurred in less developed countries
- The highest incidence of lung cancer was in Europe and Northern America; and the lowest incidence in Africa and, Latin America and Caribbean.
Rank |
Country |
Age-Standardised Rate per 100,000 (World) |
---|
1 |
Hungary |
76.6 |
2 |
Armenia |
72.9 |
3 |
Macedonia |
71.3 |
4 |
Serbia |
70.3 |
5 |
Turkey |
63.9 |
6 |
Montenegro |
62.4 |
7 |
Poland |
60.5 |
8 |
Kazakhstan |
59.2 |
9 |
Romania |
58.8 |
10 |
North Korea |
58.5 |
11 |
Croatia |
58.2 |
12 |
Latvia |
58.0 |
13 |
New Caledonia |
57.0 |
14 |
Belarus |
56.9 |
15 |
Belgium |
56.6 |
16 |
Lithuania |
55.4 |
17 |
Slovenia |
53.8 |
18 |
French Polynesia |
53.2 |
19 |
China |
52.8 |
20 |
Spain |
52.5 |
Source: Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Ervik M, Dikshit R, Eser S, Mathers C, Rebelo M, Parkin DM, Forman D, Bray, F. GLOBOCAN 2012 v1.1, Cancer Incidence and Mortality Worldwide: IARC CancerBase No. 11 [Internet]. Lyon, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer; 2014. Available from: http://globocan.iarc.fr, accessed on 16/01/2015.
Women
- Denmark had the highest rate of lung cancer in 2012, followed by Canada and the US.
- About 54 per cent of lung cancer cases occurred in less developed countries.
- The highest incidence of lung cancer was in Northern America and Oceania; and the lowest incidence in Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Rank |
Country |
Age-standardised rate per 100,000 (world) |
---|
1 |
Denmark |
37.6 |
2 |
Canada |
34.4 |
3 |
US |
33.7 |
4 |
North Korea |
33.4 |
5 |
Hungary |
33.2 |
6 |
The Netherlands |
31.6 |
7 |
Iceland |
28.9 |
8 |
Ireland |
27.4 |
9 |
Norway |
26.1 |
10 |
UK |
25.8 |
11 |
Serbia |
23.9 |
12 |
Cuba |
23.8 |
13 |
New Caledonia |
23.6 |
14 |
New Zealand |
23.2 |
15 |
Guam |
22.7 |
16 |
Brunei |
22.0 |
17 |
Poland |
21.8 |
18 |
Australia |
21.5 |
19 |
French Polynesia |
21.1 |
20 |
China |
20.7 |
Source: Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Ervik M, Dikshit R, Eser S, Mathers C, Rebelo M, Parkin DM, Forman D, Bray, F. GLOBOCAN 2012 v1.1, Cancer Incidence and Mortality Worldwide: IARC CancerBase No. 11 [Internet]. Lyon, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer; 2014. Available from: http://globocan.iarc.fr, accessed on 16/01/2015.