According to the report, the country would witness around 14.5 lakh new cases of cancer in 2016, which will cross the 17 lakh mark in 2020.
While presenting the findings of the report based on population and hospital’s cancer registries, ICMR director general Soumya Swaminathan said: “India is witnessing a steep rise in cancer cases and significantly, more and more women are falling prey to the deadly disease. It’s the women who are being hit hard by this life-taking disease as there has been a significant increase in the incidence rates of cancers of breast, uterus, ovary and lung.”
Breast cancer is projected to see a 10 per cent rise in this year itself. There would be 1.5 lakh new breast cancer cases in 2016, out of which 1.45 lakh cases would be in females and 0.05 in males.
As pollution levels are increasing in both urban and rural areas, cases of lung cancer are also on the rise as it is estimated that 1.14 lakh (83,000 in males and 31,000 in females) new cases of lung cancer would be registered during 2016, while it will rise to 1.4 lakh in 2020.
Cancer of the cervix is third most common with estimated 1.0 lakh new cases in 2016 and about 1.04 lakh during 2020. Ovary cancer is estimated at 45,231 in 2016 and 59,276 in 2020.
The report has estimated that the disease would claim about 7.36 lakh lives in 2016, while in 2020 the deaths due to cancer would be 8.80 lakh. Most of the deaths would be caused by lung cancer as it would claim 81,164 lives in 2016 and 1.09 lakh in 2020.
The cervix cancer would become the second most deadly disease to cause 65,890 deaths in 2016 and 69,291 in 2020 while breast cancer would claim 58,085 lives in 2016 and 78,292 in 2020.