Women in India are more likely to get cancer. Men are more likely to die from it.
The paradox, revealed in a study of the country's latest cancer registry, tells a story at once simple and confounding.
Women account for just over half of all new cases, but men make up the majority of deaths.
India appears to be an outlier. In 2022, for every 100,000 people worldwide, on average about 197 were diagnosed with cancer that year. Men fared worse, at 212, compared to 186 for women, according to the World Cancer Research Fund.
In India, the most common cancers among women are breast, cervical, and ovarian. Breast and cervical cancers make up 40% of female cases.
While cervical cancer is largely linked to infections such as human papillomavirus (HPV), breast and ovarian cancers are often influenced by hormonal factors. Rising cases of these hormone-related cancers are also associated with lifestyle shifts - including later pregnancies, reduced breastfeeding, obesity, and sedentary habits.
For men, oral, lung, and prostate cancers dominate. Tobacco drives 40% of preventable cancers, mainly oral and lung.
Awareness campaigns and improved facilities mean cancers common among women are often detected earlier.
With their long latency periods - time between exposure to a cancer-causing factor and the appearance of detectable cancer - treatment outcomes are relatively good.
The hilly and relatively remote northeast region remains India's cancer hotspot, with Mizoram's Aizawl district recording lifetime risks twice the national average.
India's patchwork of risks is part of a larger truth: cancer is at once the most universal and the most uneven of diseases. The disparities seen across Indian states mirror a global divide shaped by geography, income, and access to care.
Yet amid this shifting landscape, many questions remain, underscoring the urgent need for targeted prevention, early detection, and lifestyle changes, including healthier diets and habits.
