Overview

• Published in JAMA Network Open, the ICMR–NCRP study draws on 43 population-based registries covering more than 700,000 cases and over 200,000 deaths to estimate 1,562,099 new cases and 874,404 deaths in 2024.
• Breast and cervical cancers are most common in women, while oral and lung cancers predominate in men, concentrating much of the country’s burden.
• Risk varies widely by region, with Mizoram showing nearly double the national lifetime risk and Aizawl recording the highest incidence; among big cities, Delhi has the highest overall rates in men and Srinagar leads in lung cancer.
• Oral cancer is climbing across multiple registries, including notable year-on-year increases in Ahmedabad, alongside overall case rises in Kamrup Urban for men and Thiruvananthapuram for women.
• High mortality-to-incidence ratios in places such as Sangrur, Varanasi and Chandigarh point to late diagnosis and constrained care, and experts note that oral, lung, breast and cervical cancers account for nearly half of cancer deaths.