🌅 Nearly Four in Ten Cancer Cases May Be Preventable

Sunrise Stat
February 10, 2026

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A new study by researchers at the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer found 7.1 million of the roughly 18.7 million new cancer cases (38%) reported worldwide in 2022 (the last year with available data), were linked to preventable causes, led by smoking (linked to 15% of new cancer cases), infections (10%), and alcohol consumption (3%). Lung, stomach, and cervical cancers made up nearly half of all new preventable cancer cases in 2022.

The study included 30 preventable cancer risk factors, including habits within an individual’s control, like smoking and alcohol consumption, as well as environmental factors that require policy solutions, like air pollution and, for the first time, cancer-causing infections. The authors say the study is the first global analysis showing how much cancer risk comes from causes we can prevent, either through individual change (e.g., quitting smoking) or policy updates (e.g., measures to reduce air pollution or the spread of diseases).

Cancer continues to be one of the leading causes of illness and death worldwide, though other research suggests more Americans today are surviving cancer than ever before. Despite any progress, survival is still lowest for cancers of the lung, liver, esophagus, and pancreas, which are all tied to smoking and/or alcohol consumption. Lung cancer alone is expected to cause more deaths in the U.S. this year than the second-leading cancer, colorectal cancer, and third-leading cancer, pancreatic cancer, combined.