By 2050, the number of cancer diagnoses will increase by 77%

In 2050, more than 35 million new cancer cases will be diagnosed per year, representing a 77% increase compared to 2022. This is the forecast of the latest report from the American Cancer Society, published this Thursday in the journal CA: Journal of Cancer for Physicians. Predictions were made based on The 2022 data – the most recent – comes from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Cancer Observatory, which recorded 20 million new cancer diagnoses and nearly 10 million deaths in the most recent year of analysis.

According to the report, while growth in absolute terms is more pronounced in countries with high and very high human development indexes, such as China, the largest relative growth is observed in countries with lower human development index (HDI). In these countries, the projected growth will be 142%, that is, from 800 thousand new diagnoses in 2022 to approximately 2 million by 2050. In countries like India with an average HDI, the growth will be close to 100%, meaning there will be twice as many new cases in 2050 (4.8 million) as in 2022 (2.4 million).

The results of this report highlight the need to strengthen specific cancer control efforts. “Investing in prevention, including targeting major cancer risk factors (including smoking, overweight and obesity, and infections), could prevent millions of future cancer diagnoses and save many lives around the world, delivering huge economic and social dividends to countries around the world. coming decades,” the report says.