A recent study found that although three-quarters of the world’s countries have seen a decline in premature cancer deaths, only eight countries are on track to meet target 3.4 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The goal is to reduce premature deaths from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including cancer, by one third by 2030 through prevention and treatment.

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For the study, researchers, including from the World Health Organization (WHO) in Switzerland, calculated the risk of premature death for people aged 30–69 to see how the pattern of annual premature cancer deaths had changed between 2000 and 2019 in 183 countries.

Data from the World Health Organization’s Global Health Estimates were used.

The research team found that while the overall number of early deaths from all cancers has fallen in Southeast Asian countries, the number of early deaths from breast, colon and pancreatic cancers has increased. The results are published in The Lancet Oncology.

However, “for most countries,[early cancer deaths]are not falling fast enough to meet SDG 3.4 targets. No WHO region will meet SDG 3.4 targets for all cancers combined,” the authors wrote.

According to researchers, there will be 35 million new cases of cancer by 2050, with the greatest burden expected in lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) and low-income countries (LICs).

The authors say previous studies have shown that cancer and circulatory system (heart) diseases are now the first or second cause of premature death in most WHO countries and regions.

However, they say, no studies have been done to assess premature deaths due to specific types of cancer.