1 in 5 people develop cancer in their lifetime, WHO agency estimates

There were an estimated 20 million cancer cases and 9.7 million cancer deaths in 2022, the World Health Organization’s cancer research agency said on Thursday, a growing burden that masks what it calls “striking inequity” among rich and poor countries.

Around one in five people develop cancer in their lifetimes, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) said in a statement, and one in nine men and one in 12 women die from the disease.

But the threat of cancer varies depending on where a patient lives, IARC said in its biannual report based on data from 185 countries and 36