Worldwide Breast Cancer

In 2010, 1.5 million people worldwide will be told they have breast cancer.

This page talks about statistics on a global scale, which is not as often heard. Nearly 1 in 4 women with cancer in the world, have breast cancer, and half of them live in highly developed countries. Click on the map for further detail.

“The most prevalent cancer in the world today is breast cancer.” In this instance, ‘prevalent’ means if you were to have a party of people who have been diagnosed with any type of cancer in the world in the last 5 years and are still alive, nearly 18% of the people in that room would have pink ribbons.

“1 in 10 of all new cancers diagnosed worldwide each year is [breast cancer] and is the most common cancer in women in both developing and developed areas. It is also the principle cause of death from cancer among women globally.”

“In part, the high incidence in the more affluent world areas is likely because of the presence of screening programs that detect early invasive cancers, some of which would otherwise have been diagnosed later or not at all.” In Western countries, 89% of women diagnosed with breast cancer are still alive 5 years after their diagnosis, those are great odds.” See the report.