A new study by the Canadian Medical Association Journal estimates there will be more than 250,000 new cancer cases and 87,900 cancer-related deaths in Canada in 2026, with lung, breast, prostate and colorectal cancers projected to account for 47 per cent of all new cases.
That comes as a separate study published in the same journal found that those who survive cancer as teens or young adults also face a higher risk of getting cancer again later in life.
The new research says 42 per cent of all Canadians will receive a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime.
“The population of Canada grew by about 9.5 per cent between 2020 and 2025, primarily because of immigration, and continues to age, with a record percentage (19.5 per cent) of people aged 65 years or older in 2025,” the study reads.
“An aging and growing population has resulted in a greater number of people diagnosed with or dying from cancer year after year, and a major economic impact on society.”
The study found that among men, the most commonly diagnosed cancers are expected to be prostate (23 per cent), lung (12 per cent), colorectal (11 per cent) and bladder (eight per cent) cancers.
Among women, breast (26 per cent), lung (14 per cent), colorectal (nine per cent) and uterine (seven per cent) cancers are expected to be the most common.
The five most common causes of cancer-related death are lung, colorectal, pancreatic, breast and prostate cancers, which are projected to account for more than half (52 per cent) of all Canadian cancer deaths in 2026.
Lung cancer is expected to account for one in five cancer-related deaths in 2026, with the highest number and proportion of cancer deaths among both men (21 per cent) and women (23 per cent).
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Prostate (11 per cent), colorectal (10 per cent), pancreas (seven per cent), and liver and intrahepatic bile duct (five per cent) cancers are expected to be the next most common causes of cancer death among men, while breast (13 per cent), colorectal (10 per cent), pancreas (eight per cent) and ovarian (five per cent) cancers are expected to be the next most common causes of cancer death for women.
The study also found that “all cancers except breast and thyroid are more commonly diagnosed among males than females,” but men are expected to have “higher mortality rates for all cancer types except for breast and thyroid.”
A separate study also published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal on Monday found that those who survived cancer as adolescents and young adults face an increased risk of getting cancer again later.
Senior author Miranda Fidler-Benaoudia, a cancer epidemiologist at the University of Calgary and Cancer Care Alberta, said the research counted the development of new cancers — not recurrences of their original cancers — in Alberta patients who had first been diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 39.
The study found they were twice as likely to develop another cancer as the general population.
One of the main suspected causes of subsequent cancers is treatment used for the first one, she said.
“There really is a delicate balance between cure and long-term quality of life. Radiation is a recognized cause of cancer,” Fidler-Benaoudia said.
“Whilst the radiation is necessary to treat those original cancers, it simultaneously increases the risk of developing another cancer because that part of the body has been irradiated.
“Similarly, there is research that shows that chemotherapy and even some hormone therapies that are used to treat cancers can cause subsequent cancers later in life, too.”
Fidler-Benaoudia said that as cancer treatments evolve, the hope is that they will be less likely to be carcinogenic.
The increased risk of a subsequent cancer is not only due to past treatments, she said, noting that genetics can also play a role.
The Society of Gynecologic Oncology of Canada stated in a February press conference that cervical cancer is the “fastest-rising form of cancer” in Canada and a “silent national health crisis” that doctors say the federal government must do more to eliminate.
“Canada is currently serving a silent national health crisis,” Dr. Shannon Salvador, president of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology of Canada, said at the time. “While many celebrate the advancements in modern medicine, there is an alarming outlier.”
The federal government released an action plan in July 2025 that committed to “eliminating cervical cancer as a public health problem by 2040.”
In addition, Colorectal Cancer Canada has been recommending that Canadian provinces and territories “commit to lowering the routine colorectal cancer screening age to 45 for average-risk Canadians.”
A February press release from Colorectal Cancer Canada states that this kind of initiative is “a change experts say is urgently needed to reflect rising rates of the disease among younger adults.”
Prince Edward Island became the first province to lower its colorectal cancer screening age to 45, with Premier Rob Lantz saying on March 30 that “waiting until 50 is no longer an option.”
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