China’s Cancer Deaths Jump by Over 20% in 15 Years, Study Says

Cancer deaths in China increased by 21.6% to nearly 2.4 million in 2020 from 2005, according to a recent study co-conducted by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which called for adjustments to existing health plans and actions to reduce the cancer burden.

“The cancer burden in China appeared to shift towards that of high-income countries between 2005 and 2020,” the study said, noting that China’s “mortality rate is much higher than the global average and that of high-income countries” and it has lower five-year survival rates for most major cancers, which indicate the proportion of people who are still alive five years after being diagnosed with the disease.