Worldwide cancer data

Find information about world cancer statistics for the most common types of cancer in 2022, the latest year that data has been made available by GLOBOCAN.

Including non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) there were 19,976,499 cancer cases in 2022.

When NMSC was excluded, this number dropped to 18,741,966 cancer cases around the world in 2022. Of these, 9,566,825 were in men and 9,175,141 in women. The most common cancers globally are listed in the tables below.

Age-standardised rates (ASR) 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 developing/dying from cancer.

It is important to note that some countries have a high ASR but a low total number of cases, while other have a low ASR but a high number of cases. This is because ASRs are reported per 100,000 people. So, for example, an ASR of 10 in a population of 100,000 = 10 cases of cancer, but an ASR of 1 in a population of 10 million = 100 cases.

With this growing global burden, prevention of cancer is one of the most significant public health challenges of the 21st century. Our Cancer Prevention Recommendations work together as an overall way of living healthily to prevent cancer through changing dietary patterns, reducing alcohol consumption, increasing physical activity, and achieving and maintaining a healthy body weight.

As well as action by individuals, achieving healthy patterns of diet and sustained physical activity over the life course requires concerted and integrated action from all sectors of society, including civil society, private sector, and health and other professions.

Global cancer incidence: both sexes

Trachea, bronchus and lung, followed by breast, were the most common cancers worldwide. Cancers of the colorectum were the third most common.

Rank	Cancer	New cases (2022)	ASR
	All cancers incl. non-melanoma skin cancer	19,976,499	196.9
	All cancers excl. non-melanoma skin cancer	18,741,966	186.5
1	Trachea, bronchus and lung	2,480,675	23.6
2	Breast	2,296,840	46.8
3	Colorectum	1,926,425	18.4
4	Prostate	1,467,854	29.4
5	Stomach	968,784	9.2
6	Liver and intrahepatic bile ducts	866,136	8.6
7	Thyroid	821,214	9.1
8	Cervix uteri	662,301	14.1
9	Bladder	614,298	5.6
10	Non-Hodgkin lymphoma	553,389	5.6
11	Oesophagus	511,054	5.0
12	Pancreas	510,992	4.7
13	Leukaemia	487,294	5.3
14	Kidney	434,840	8.4
15	Corpus uteri	420,368	8.4
16	Lip, oral cavity	389,846	4.0
17	Melanoma of skin	331,722	3.2
18	Ovary	324,603	6.7
19	Brain, central nervous system	321,731	3.5
20	Larynx	189,191	1.9
21	Multiple myeloma	187,952	1.8
22	Gallbladder	122,491	1.2
23	Nasopharynx	120,434	1.3
24	Oropharynx	106,400	1.1
25	Hypopharynx	86,257	0.89
26	Hodgkin lymphoma	82,469	0.95
27	Testis	72,040	1.7
28	Salivary glands	55,083	0.56
29	Vulva	47,336	0.83
30	Penis	37,700	0.79
31	Kaposi sarcoma	35,813	0.41
32	Mesothelioma	30,633	0.28
33	Vagina	18,819	0.36

Global cancer incidence in men

Trachea, bronchus and lung, as well as prostate, were the most common cancers worldwide. Cancers of the colorectum were the third most common.

Rank	Cancer	New cases (2022)	ASR
	All cancers incl. non-melanoma skin cancer	10,311,610	212.6
	All cancers excl. non-melanoma skin cancer	9,566,825	198.6
1	Trachea, bronchus and lung	1,572,045	32.1
2	Prostate	1,467,854	29.4
3	Colorectal	1,069,446	21.9
4	Stomach	627,458	12.8
5	Liver and intrahepatic bile ducts	600,676	12.7
6	Bladder	471,293	9.3
7	Oesophagus	365,225	7.6
8	Non-Hodgkin lymphoma	311,375	6.6
9	Leukaemia	278,120	6.2
10	Kidney	277,800	5.9
11	Pancreas	269,709	5.5
12	Lip, oral cavity	268,999	5.8
13	Thyroid	206,485	4.6
14	Melanoma of skin	179,953	3.7
15	Brain, central nervous system	173,699	3.9
16	Larynx	165,794	3.5
17	Multiple myeloma	103,805	2.1
18	Oropharynx	86,339	1.9
19	Nasopharynx	86,289	1.9
20	Hypopharynx	72,077	1.6
21	Testis	72,040	1.7
22	Hodgkin lymphoma	48,774	1.1
23	Gallbladder	43,538	0.88
24	Penis	37,700	0.79
25	Salivary glands	30,963	0.66
26	Kaposi sarcoma	24,620	0.56
27	Mesothelioma	21,410	0.42

Global cancer incidence in women

Breast, as well as trachea, bronchus and lung, were the most common cancers worldwide. Cancers of the colorectum were the third most common.

Rank	Cancer	New cases (2022)	ASR
	All cancers incl. non-melanoma skin cancer	19,976,499	196.9
	All cancers excl. non-melanoma skin cancer	18,741,966	186.5
1	Breast	2,296,840	46.8
2	Trachea, bronchus and lung	908,630	16.2
3	Colorectum	856,979	15.2
4	Cervix uteri	662,301	14.1
5	Thyroid	614,729	13.6
6	Corpus uteri	420,368	8.4
7	Stomach	341,326	6.0
8	Ovary	324,603	6.7
9	Liver and intrahepatic bile ducts	265,460	4.8
10	Non-Hodgkin lymphoma	242,014	4.6
11	Pancreas	241,283	4.0
12	Leukaemia	209,174	4.4
13	Kidney	157,040	3.0
14	Melanoma of skin	151,769	2.9
15	Brain, central nervous system	148,032	3.1
16	Oesophagus	145,829	2.6
17	Bladder	143,005	2.4
18	Lip, oral cavity	120,847	2.3
19	Multiple myeloma	84,147	1.5
20	Gallbladder	78,953	1.4
21	Vulva	47,336	0.83
22	Nasopharynx	34,145	0.73
23	Hodgkin lymphoma	33,695	0.77
24	Salivary glands	24,120	0.49
25	Larynx	23,397	0.45
26	Oropharynx	20,061	0.39
27	Vagina	18,819	0.36
28	Hypopharynx	14,180	0.29
29	Kaposi sarcoma	11,193	0.26
30	Mesothelioma	9,223	0.16

Notes

All cancer excludes non-melanoma skin cancer.

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 May 2024). For queries about our cancer statistics please email the Research Interpretation team: ri@wcrf.org.