A 2023 study published in the BMJ Oncology journal found that cancer cases in people under 50 have increased by nearly 80% in the last three decades.
This includes more than a million people under 50 who die from cancer annually, with that number expected to rise by 21% by 2030.
The study also found that new cancer cases are expected to rise 77% by 2050.
It encompasses data from 204 countries, spanning 29 types of cancer, and delves into new cases, deaths, health implications, and contributing risk factors for those aged 14 to 49, measuring changes between 1990 and 2019.
Between 1990 and 2019, the global incidence of early-onset cancer climbed from 1.82 million cases to a staggering 3.26 million.
The mortality rate for adults in their 40s, 30s, or younger increased by 27 percent, resulting in more than a million patients below 50 succumbing to cancer each year.
“What we know so far is that the numbers are due to an increase in [world] population, screening, and technology but also due to lifestyle factors – smoking, alcohol, obesity, lack of exercise and lack of fresh fruits and vegetables,” Sayed Ali, an oncologist at the St John of God Subiaco Hospital in Perth, told Al Jazeera.
Ali explained that addressing lifestyle factors was vital to addressing the rise in cancer cases worldwide, specifically among the young.
