The World Health Organization (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) released the latest statistics on the global burden of cancer and predictions of cancer trends.  IARC collected data on 28 types of cancer in 184 countries, collecting and publishing the data in the GLOBOCAN database.  In 2008, there were 12.7 million new cancer cases and 7.6 million cancer-related deaths around the world.  In 2012, those numbers raised to 14.1 million new cases and 8.2 million deaths.

Projections based on the IARC estimates predict a substantive increase to 19.3 million new cancer cases per year by 2025, due to growth and aging of the global population. More than half of all cancers (56.8 percent) and cancer deaths (64.9 percent) in 2012 occurred in less developed regions of the world, and these proportions will increase further by 2025.  The most impactful types of cancer for less developed regions were breast and cervical.  In particular, cervical cancer, which is an avoidable cause of death with regular screening, is most damaging in less developed countries.  Of all cases around the world, 70 percent of cases occur in the poorer countries.

The most commonly diagnosed cancers worldwide were those of the lung (1.8 million, 13.0 percent), breast (1.7 million, 11.9 percent), and colorectum (1.4 million, 9.7 percent). The most common causes of cancer death were cancers of the lung (1.6 million, 19.4 percent), liver (0.8 million, 9.1 percent), and stomach (0.7 million, 8.8 percent).

According to CBC News Health, the higher burden for developing countries can also be attributed to a lack of access to newer technologies.  For example, clinical advances to fight breast cancer have not yet spread to those regions.  Moreover, these countries also lack the screening and early treatment programs as well as nationwide HPV vaccination programs to reduce the incidence and impact of cervical cancer.

In developing countries, the living longer combined with a change in lifestyle, such as poor diet and obesity, can increase the risk of breast cancer and bowel cancer to some extent. More people are also smoking in developing countries.  A shift towards lifestyles typical of industrialized countries also leads to a rising burden of cancers associated with reproductive and hormonal risk factors, such as having children later in life.

IARC has also created an online resource called the Global Cancer Atlas, which contains worldwide data of different cancers.  Statistics can be separated by male and female, incidence, mortality, and five-year prevalence.  Countries can also be compared on all of these indicators