The WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer said the global cancer burden would rise to an estimated 18.1 million new cases this year.
The agency said these new figures highlight that much remains to be done to address the alarming rise in the cancer burden globally and that prevention has a key role to play.
The agency's director, Christopher Wild, said in a statement with the report, the rising cancer burden characterized as the number of new cases, the prevalence and the number of deaths was due to several factors, including social and economic development and growing and aging populations.
He called for efficient prevention and early detection policies to be implemented urgently to control this devastating disease across the world.