Cancer Statistics in Korea: Incidence, Mortality, Survival, and Prevalence in 2022

Abstract

Purpose: The current study provides national cancer statistics and their secular trends in Korea, including incidence, mortality, survival, and prevalence in 2022, with international comparisons.

Materials and methods: Cancer incidence, survival, and prevalence rates were calculated using the Korea National Cancer Incidence Database (1999-2022), with survival follow-up until December 31, 2023. Mortality data obtained from Statistics Korea, while international comparisons were based on GLOBOCAN data.

Results: In 2022, 282,047 newly diagnosed cancer cases (age-standardized rate [ASR], 287.0 per 100,000) and 83,378 deaths from cancer (ASR, 65.7 per 100,000) were reported. The proportion of localized-stage cancers increased from 45.6% in 2005 to 50.9% in 2022. Stomach, colorectal, and breast cancer showed increased localized-stage diagnoses by 18.1, 18.5, and 9.9 percentage points, respectively. Compared to 2001-2005, the 5-year relative survival (2018-2022) increased by 20.4 percentage points for stomach cancer, 7.6 for colorectal cancer, and 5.6 for breast cancer. Korea had the lowest cancer mortality among countries with similar incidence rates and the lowest mortality-to-incidence (M/I) ratios for these cancers. The 5-year relative survival (2018-2022) was 72.9%, contributing to over 2.59 million prevalent cases in 2022.

Conclusion: Since the launch of the National Cancer Screening Program in 2002, early detection has improved, increasing the diagnosis of localized-stage cancers and survival rates. Korea recorded the lowest M/I ratio among major comparison countries, demonstrating the effectiveness of its National Cancer Control Program.

Keywords: Incidence; Korea; Mortality; Neoplasms; Prevalence; Survival.

Fig. 1.

The five common sites of cancer incidence by age group and sex in Korea, 2022. (A) Men. (B) Women. Numbers in the graph are age-specific incidence rates per 100,000. CNS, central nervous system.

Fig. 2.

Age-specific incidence rates of common cancers for 2022 in Korea. (A) Men. (B) Women.

Fig. 3.

Annual age-standardized cancer incidence and mortality rates by sex for all sites from 1983 to 2022 in Korea. Age standardization was based on Segi’s world standard population.

Fig. 4.

Trends in age-standardized incidences of selected cancers by sex from 1999 to 2022 in Korea. (A) Men. (B) Women. Age standardization was based on Segi’s world standard population.

Fig. 5.

Trends in age-standardized mortalities of selected cancers by sex from 1983 to 2022 in Korea. (A) Men. (B) Women. Age standardization was based on Segi’s world standard population. *Cancers of cervix uteri, corpus uteri, and unspecified parts of the uterus were combined (C53-C55), due to their unclear classifications in the past.

Fig. 6.

Distributions of stage at diagnosis from 2005 to 2022. Stage at diagnosis has been collected since 2005. The proportions for each stage were calculated after excluding unknown stage cases.

Fig. 7.

Trends in screening rate, stage at diagnosis, and survival rate for stomach, colorectal, and breast cancer. (A) Stomach cancer. (B) Colorectal cancer. (C) Breast cancer. Stage at diagnosis has been collected since 2005. The proportions for each stage were calculated after excluding unknown stage cases. For colorectal cancer, localized stage includes in situ cases. Screening rate data were obtained from the 2023 Cancer Screening Behavior Survey. Stomach cancer screening includes upper gastrointestinal series and endoscopy. Colorectal cancer screening includes fecal occult blood tests and colonoscopy. Breast cancer screening includes mammography and breast ultrasound.

Fig. 8.

International comparison of incidence and mortality for all cancers, stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, and breast cancer. (A) All cancers. (B) Stomach cancer. (C) Colorectal cancer. (D) Breast cancer. M/I rate, mortality-to-incidence rate. Data were downloaded from the GLOBOCAN 2022 website (https://gco.iarc.fr/today/en/dataviz/scatter-plot?mode=population), with real data used for Korea to ensure accurate comparisons.

Fig. 9.

Five-year relative survival rates by stage at diagnosis and stage distribution of selected cancers by sex in Korea, 2018-2022. (A) Men. (B) Women. Staging according to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results stage categories. The stage distribution was calculated including cases with unknown stage, but the unknown stage category was not shown in the figure (So the total does not sum to 100%). ^a)Includes the gallbladder and other/unspecified parts of the biliary tract.

Fig. 10.

Prevalent cases of common cancers by time since cancer diagnosis. Prevalent cases were defined as the number of cancer patients alive on January 1, 2023 among all cancer patients diagnosed between 1999 and 2022.