WHO Global Status Report · 2026

Global Status Report on Cancer 2026

The future we choose together. Cancer is near universal in its reach, yet highly inequitable in its impact. Explore the burden, the equity gap, and progress across the cancer continuum.

Explore · GLOBOCAN 2024

Cancer around the world

Equity gap · indicator

Measure · colour the globe by

Age-standardised, both sexes, 2024. Includes non-melanoma skin cancer. Drag to spin, scroll to zoom, click a country.

Deaths per 100 new cancer cases

Higher means a diagnosis is more often fatal. Rich countries sit low; poorer countries high.

Pinned:

low

high

The equity gap in cancer outcomes

High-income versus low-income settings

3xthe gap between rich and poor countries

A near-universal reach

Lifetime risk and the human toll of a diagnosis

1 in 5

of us will develop cancer in our lifetime. Counting close family, roughly 92% of people globally will be affected by cancer at least once.

The lived experience

Experience significant distress60%

Lose close relationships50%

Caregivers with prolonged grief50%

Face catastrophic health costs55%

The widening burden, 2024 to 2050

New cancer diagnoses per year (including non-melanoma skin cancer), projected trajectory

A leading cause of premature death

Rank of cancer among causes of premature mortality, by number of countries (2021)

countries on track to cut premature cancer deaths by a third by 2030

countries with rising rates of premature cancer mortality

Table 1

Implementation scorecard across the cancer continuum

A substantial gap has opened between plans and outcomes. Filter by status, or select a domain to see the plan and the result.

Signs of progress

Where the needle has moved

Country focus · GLOBOCAN 2024

The Kenyan picture

Leading cancers by sex

New cases in 2024. Women carry 61% of Kenya's cancer burden, driven by breast and cervical cancer.

How deadly is each cancer

Deaths for every 100 new cases (mortality-to-incidence ratio)

Oesophageal cancer, concentrated along Kenya's Rift Valley corridor, is almost always fatal and is the country's standout outlier. Breast cancer is the most survivable of the common cancers, yet still takes one life for every two diagnoses, far above the rate in high-income settings.

Overall, 64 of every 100 Kenyans diagnosed with cancer die of it, against roughly 35 in high-income countries. Kenya's diagnosed incidence rate (111 per 100,000) is moderate; the burden is one of lethality and late detection, not raw frequency.

The way forward

Seven recommendations, three shifts

Source: World Health Organization, Global Status Report on Cancer 2026: the future we choose together (Executive Summary). Figures include International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) estimates.

Ranges are shown as reported. HIC = high-income country; LIC = low-income country; LMIC = low- and middle-income country; NCCP = national cancer control plan; UHC = universal health coverage.