Cancer increasing on the mainland
In two decades, the number of cases doubled and mortality rate is far higher than in the West
The number of middle-aged mainlanders developing cancerous tumours doubled over the two decades to 2009, a new national report says.
At the same time, the overall frequency and mortality of cancers have both risen, a development mainly ascribed to the ageing population.
The 2012 China Cancer Registry Annual Report, produced by the Ministry of Health's National Cancer Registry Centre, said the prevalence of all kinds of cancers on the mainland was 285.91 cases for every 100,000 people in 2009, compared with 184 cases per 100,000 people in the late 1980s.
About 3.12 million people a year - or 8,550 people a day - were diagnosed with cancers, the report said.
The cancer-caused death rate was 180.54 per 100,000 people in 2009, the report said. It did not specify the mortality rate in the late 80s, saying only that it had kept rising.
Dr Chen Wanqing , the lead author of the report, said last week that it would help the mainland improve cancer prevention and treatment.
"Cancers are complicated and the causes of their existence are not confirmed yet," he said. "But dynamic, year-on-year monitoring data can be an objective base for scientists to do research and for authorities to adjust polices in fighting against cancers."