In mid-December, IARC released latest estimates of incidence and mortality for 28 types of cancer in 184 countries in GLOBOCAN 2012 v1.0, Cancer Incidence and Mortality Worldwide. (Ferlay, Soerjomataram, Ervik, Dikshit, Eser, Mathers, Rebelo, Parkin, Forman and Bray).

According to GLOBOCAN 2012, an estimated 14.1 million new cancer cases and 8.2 million cancer-related deaths occurred in 2012, compared with 12.7 million and 7.6 million, respectively, in 2008. The most commonly diagnosed cancers worldwide were lung (1.8 million, 13.0% of the total), breast (1.7 million, 11.9%), and colorectum (1.4 million, 9.7%). The most common causes of cancer death were cancers of the lung (1.6 million, 19.4% of the total), liver (0.8 million, 9.1%), and stomach (0.7 million, 8.8%).

There has been a sharp rise in breast cancer worldwide. In 2012, 1.7 million women were diagnosed with breast cancer, up 20% from 2008. Breast cancer is also the most common cause of cancer death among women (522 000 deaths in 2012). Cervical cancer death rates are 10 times higher in Africa than in North America, mainly because of lack of screening.

The GLOBOCAN 2012 online database is available at www.globocan.iarc.fr