Africa Tops Global Rise in Breast Cancer, Nigeria Records 542% Increase

African women at a breast cancer awareness event highlighting rising breast cancer cases across the continent.

African countries are experiencing the fastest rise in breast cancer cases globally, with Equatorial Guinea recording a 312% increase and Nigeria reporting a 542.9% surge since 1990, according to a Global Burden of Disease Study published in The Lancet. The report warns that global deaths could reach 1.4 million annually by 2050, with most of the burden falling on low- and lower-middle-income countries.