International Range of Cancer Incidence

Although cancer occurs in every country in the world, there are wide geographic variations in incidence. The rates presented are from Cancer Incidence in Five Continents (CI5), Volume VI (Parkin, 1992). The rates are age-adjusted to the world standard. Because many countries do not have national incidence rates, or have rates only for specific regions, there are fewer countries represented in the incidence data than in the mortality data. The tables show the wide range of incidence for selected cancer sites for males and females separately. The country/geographic area with the highest rate is shown together with the rate and the specific ethnic or racial group in which it occurred, if noted. Similarly, the lowest rates are given, as well as a ratio of the highest to the lowest.

For males, incidence rates for all sites combined ranged from 493.8 per 100,000 in Tasmania, Australia, to a low of 59.1 in The Gambia. Rates for U.S. males were 351.3 for blacks (SEER) and 330.4 for whites (SEER).

The largest ratios of the highest rates to the lowest rates in worldwide cancer incidence among males were for melanoma of the skin, nasopharynx, and larynx, with ratios of 289, 285, and 204, respectively. For melanoma of the skin, the area reporting the highest rate was the Australian Capital Territory with 28.9 per 100,000; the lowest rate, 0.1, was reported among Kuwaitis in Kuwait and among persons in Khon Kaen, Thailand. For nasopharynx, the highest rate was 28.5 in Hong Kong while the lowest was 0.1 for Quito, Ecuador. For larynx, the highest rate was 20.4 in Basque Country, Spain, and the lowest rate, 0.1, was for men in Qidong, China.

The worldwide range in lung cancer incidence among men ranges from a high of 119.1 in New Zealand Maoris to 1.0 per 100,000 in The Gambia. U.S. black men in New Orleans experienced a lung cancer rate of 115.9, just lower than that for Maoris in New Zealand. Prostate cancer rates were highest for black men in Atlanta, Georgia (102.0) and lowest in Qidong, China (0.8 per 100,000).