A record 1.01 million people are expected to be diagnosed with cancer this year, the first time the figure has topped the 1 million mark, the National Cancer Center said Friday.
NCC put the number of cancer deaths forecast this year at 374,000, also a record high.
The center cites an aging population as the biggest reason for the rise in expected cancer incidences and deaths, a consistent trend since the 1970s when officials started to record statistics. The 1.01 million cases would mark an increase of 28,000 compared to last year.
By gender, men are seen as slightly more vulnerable to cancer. Of the total 1,010,200 cases, male patients will account for 576,100, the NCC predicts. This includes 92,600 prostate cancer cases, followed by stomach cancer (91,300), lung cancer (90,600), colon cancer (84,700) and liver cancer (29,000).
Among the 434,100 women expected to develop cancer this year, breast cancer topped the list and is projected to affect 90,000 new patients. It is followed by colon cancer (62,500), lung cancer (43,200), stomach cancer (42,600) and uterine and cervical cancer (30,200).
Of the 374,000 people — 220,300 men and 153,700 women — projected to die from cancer, 77,300 deaths are expected to be from lung cancer, 51,600 from colon cancer, 48,500 from stomach cancer, 33,700 from pancreatic cancer and 28,100 from liver cancer. The projected number of deaths was up 3,000 from last year.
For both incidences and deaths, the top five cancers remained unchanged from last year for both genders.
NCC releases projected cancer incidence and death data annually. However, the actual numbers of deaths and incidences have a time lag of one to five years.