Where Cancer Rates Are Highest

Yesterday, we cited some interesting cancer facts. Now, let’s look at cancer rates by country. And there are some surprises!

As reported by Evan Comen for 24/7 Wall Street:

“About 1 in every 6 deaths on the planet is due to cancer, the second leading cause of death worldwide. In the United States alone, the cost of cancer care amounts to approximately $157 billion in medical expenditures per year. As the global population ages, the prevalence of cancer is likely to increase. So will the costs of care as more advanced, expensive treatments become the medical standard.”

“Correlated with factors like age, income, and health behaviors, the incidence of cancer varies heavily around the world. The quality of medical treatment and access to health care is worse in poorer, developing nations. Yet, age is the main risk factor for cancer. And many countries with high incidence of cancer are wealthy, developed nations with high life expectancy.”

“To determine the countries with the highest incidence of new cancer cases, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the estimated age-adjusted new cancer diagnosis rates for 185 countries in 2018 with data from the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.”

Here are the ten countries with the highest cancer rates in this analysis [Note: These countries have high life expectancies, and thus, many older residents.]:

1. Australia — cancer diagnosis rate = 468.0 new cases per 100,000 people; life expectancy at birth = 82.5 years.
2. New Zealand— cancer diagnosis rate = 438.1 new cases per 100,000 people; life expectancy at birth = 81.6 years.
3. Ireland— cancer diagnosis rate = 373.7 new cases per 100,000 people;
   life expectancy at birth = 81.6 years.
4. Hungary — cancer diagnosis rate = 368.1 new cases per 100,000 people; life expectancy at birth = 75.6 years.
5. United States — cancer diagnosis rate = 352.2 new cases per 100,000 people; life expectancy at birth = 78.7 years.
6.  Belgium — cancer diagnosis rate = 345.8 new cases per 100,000 people; life expectancy at birth = 81.0 years.
7. France— cancer diagnosis rate = 344.1 new cases per 100,000 people; life expectancy at birth = 82.3 years.
8. Denmark — cancer diagnosis rate = 340.4 new cases per 100,000 people; life expectancy at birth = 80.7 years.
9. Norway — cancer diagnosis rate = 337.8 new cases per 100,000 people; life expectancy at birth = 82.5 years.
10. Netherlands — cancer diagnosis rate = 334.1 new cases per 100,000 people; life expectancy at birth = 81.5 years.

Click the image of Croatia to see the other 15 countries on 24/7 Wall St.’s list.