Cancer in Men: Prostate Cancer is #1 for 118 Countries Globally
Across the world, prostate cancer is second only to lung cancer as the most diagnosed cancer in men. For 66% of the world, it’s the #1 cancer in men.
Distribution of Cases and Deaths for the 10 Most Common Cancers for Men
These pie charts show the types of cancer that men are most often diagnosed with (incidence) and the types they're most likely to die from (mortality). The colored "slices" represent the proportion of new cases that are for a specific type of cancer. For instance, 15% of the total number of cancer cases in men in 2022 (10.3 million new cases) were lung cancer. The "other" section includes nonmelanoma skin cancers.
About 1 in 5 men and women develop cancer in their lifetime. Whereas more men die from cancer (1 in 9) than women (1 in 12).
Worldwide, prostate cancer is the 2nd most frequent cancer, closely following lung cancer, and it's the 5th leading cause of death from cancer (after lung, liver, colorectum, and stomach cancer).
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in males in 118 of 185 countries, but it's the leading cause of death in only 52 countries, mostly in Central America and sub-Saharan Africa. This worldwide distribution of prostate cancer reflects large disparities in early detection, prevalence of risk factors, and treatment.
These statistics are according to the most recent American Cancer Society (ACS) Global Cancer Facts & Figures 5th Edition based on 2022 estimates from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). ACS researchers Hyuna Sung, PhD, Chenxi Jiang, MPH, Rebecca Siegel, MPH, and Ahmedin Jemal, DMV, PhD, contributed to the report. An accompanying article from a collaboration with IARC researchers, "Global Cancer Statistics, 2022," was published in the ACS flagship journal CA: Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
Incidence rates for prostate cancer vary by more than 50-fold across countries.
An estimated 1.5 million men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year. The incidence rate for prostate cancer ranges from less than 3 men per every 100,000 men in Yemen and Bhutan to more than 100 men per every 100,000 in Guadeloupe, Lithuania, Martinique, Norway, Sweden, and Barbados.
Differences in Prostate Cancer Incidence Rates Worldwide in Men, 2022
Prostate cancer led incidence rates in the 118 red countries on this map, including the United States, Brazil, the Scandinavian countries, the British Isles, France, Australia, and New Zealand. Dark blue countries had the lowest incidence of prostate cancer, including Niger, Sudan, and Ethiopia in Africa; Saudi Arabia; much of Central Asia; much of South Asia, including India; and much of East Asia, including Mongolia and China.
High prostate cancer incidence rates in some areas, such as the Americas, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, are partly due to widespread use of screening with PSA (prostate-specific antigen) testing, which detects cancer at early stages but also detects cancers that do not progress or cause harms in a lifetime if left undetected (overdiagnosis). In other regions, such as in the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa, high incidence rates for prostate cancer are partly due to increased genetic susceptibility. For instance, men with Western Africa ancestry are more likely to have a genetic variant associated with prostate cancer.
Little is known about the lifestyle and environmental factors associated with prostate cancer. The only established risk factors are older age, family history, and genetic susceptibility. Additional risk factors that may play a role are still under investigation include smoking, excess body weight, and dietary factors.
Death rates for prostate cancer worldwide do not vary as widely as incidence rates.
Differences in Prostate Cancer Death Rates Worldwide in Men, 2022
In the 52 red countries on this world map (mainly countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in the Caribbean Sea) more men died from prostate cancer than any other cancer type. Dark blue countries had the lowest death rates of prostate cancer, including Algeria, Saudi Arabia, India, China, and Japan.
Men have 4 or 5 times more new cases of cancer diagnosed in a year compared with women.
Approximately 1 in 5 men will develop cancer in their lifetime, and the rate is the same for women.
For men worldwide, lung cancer is the most frequent cancer, followed by prostate and colorectal cancer. Liver cancer is the 5th most common type of cancer diagnosed in men, and those rates are 2 to 3 times higher in men than in women.
The Most Commonly Diagnosed Cancer in Males by Country, 2022
This map shows the distribution of cancer cases in men in countries across the world. Prostate cancer is more widely spread (leading diagnoses in 118 purple countries) than other types of cancer for men. Although worldwide more men are diagnosed with lung cancer than prostate cancer, lung cancer dominates diagnoses in fewer countries (33 blue countries) than prostate cancer.
Country-by-country more men die from lung cancer than from prostate cancer.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in men worldwide, and 3 times as many men around the world (36%) died from a tobacco-related cancer in 2019 compared to women who did (12%). Some of the countries with the largest populations, including Indonesia and China, have the highest daily smoking prevalence among men, which creates the potential to increase future global lung cancer death in men. More than half of the men in Indonesia smoke every day.
Research shows that lung cancer can largely be prevented through effective tobacco control policies and regulations. One of the most effective interventions to reduce the demand for tobacco is an increase in the average tax on tobacco."
Cancer Types that Cause the Most Death in Males by Country, 2022
This map shows the most frequent cause of cancer deaths in men across the world. Lung cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer in men in the 89 blue countries (out of the 185 shown). The next types of cancer with high mortality for men worldwide are prostate cancer, shown by 52 purple countries, and liver cancer, shown by 24 light green countries.
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