in 2050, the number of new cases will have increased by 77% compared to 2022, warns the WHO

Even though medicine has made enormous progress in recent years, it is a fact: we are not done with cancer. In 2022, 20 million new cases were diagnosed worldwide, and almost 10 million people died. The WHO, which publishes these figures, is especially alarmed by what happens next.

Some 35 million new cases of cancer are expected to be detected in 2050, or 77% more than in 2022, the World Health Organization agency specializing in this disease said on Thursday. “The rapid increase in the global burden of cancer reflects both population aging and growth, as well as changes in people’s exposure to risk factors“, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), citing tobacco, alcohol, obesity and air pollution as “key factors in increasing incidence“.

Gender plays a role in mortality: cancer kills more men than women. In 2022, lung cancer is the most common with two and a half million new diagnoses – and it is also the one from which people die the most. Next in number of patients are breast cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer and stomach cancer. In some cases, vaccination can prevent developing the disease, such as cervical cancer, the 4th most common in women.