Cancer: 35 million new patients, a 77% increase… Why will there be so many cases worldwide in 2050?

The crab unfortunately has a bright future ahead of it. This grim observation was made in a report published this Thursday, February 1 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The organization says that cancer cases will increase globally in the coming years. The reasons are multiple. La Dépêche du Midi Many issues return to the conclusions drawn by the researchers.

What does the IARC forecast say?

Some 35 million new cases of cancer Should be found in 2050, ie. 77% more than in 2022says the World Health Organization, which specializes in the disease.

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To reach this conclusion, the researchers analyzed data reported by a total of 185 countries. Scientists also expect a 50% increase in new cancer cases in 2040, still compared to the 2022 figure: 30 million new cancer cases will be diagnosed that year. In addition, IARC Cancer Surveillance Unit Head Dr. According to Freddie Bray, one in five people will develop cancer during their lifetime.

How to explain this increase?

“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,” the IARC says, citing tobacco, alcohol, obesity and air pollution as “major drivers of increased incidence”. .

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The information shared here by scientists recalls findings made in 2022 in a column of a prestigious scientific journal. The Lancet : Research thus confirms that half of all cancers diagnosed worldwide can be attributed to one of the risk factors cited above. We find first tobacco (33.9% of cancer diagnoses in 2022), and alcohol (7.4%).

More affected populations?

So IARC takes it into account 19.96 million cases of cancer were diagnosed in 2022 throughout the world, although with significant geographic disparities. Indeed, Asia – which is home to half the world’s population – concentrates almost half of the cancer cases reported that year (9.8 million). Europe and Russia will account for a quarter of the reported cancer cases in 2022 (i.e. 4.5 million diagnoses): a surprisingly high figure. The researchers explained this by “record incidence rates for widespread cancers such as prostate and breast in many European countries”.

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Still according to researchers, cancer mainly affects people over the age of 55. More than 75% of diagnoses conducted in 2022 relate to this segment of the population. In the same year, 9.74 million people died of cancer.