Netherlands has 12th highest cancer rate in the world

The Netherlands has the 12th highest cancer rates in the world and Denmark has the very highest, reveals a league table published today.

The figures, compiled by World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) from World Health Organization (WHO), suggests that every year about 286.8 people out of every 100,000 in the Netherlands develop cancer.

Denmark has been named as the world’s cancer capital, with some 326 people in every 100,000 developing the disease each year.

The high number is partly due to good diagnosis and registration of the disease. It also has to do with the high rate of smoking, high alcohol consumption and the growing number of overweight people.

In the Netherlands, lung cancer is relatively common, this is partly due to the high percentage of smokers in our country.

If the list is broken down by Dutch men and women, men rank in 24th place and women in the fifth. Which is particularly linked to many Dutch women who are smoking.

The figures show that high-income countries tend to have higher rates of cancer than less developed parts of the world, with 13 European countries, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand among the top 20 states for overall cancer rates.

This is likely to be due in part to better diagnostics in developed countries, but the tendency of wealthier populations to be more obese, consume more alcohol and get less exercise are also a significant factor.

When it comes to the number of people who die every year from cancer, the Netherlands is in 29th place with an average of 122 per 100000 people. Mongolia ranks first here.