The rate of new cancer diagnoses in Canada has risen.

A report based on 2019 data from the Canadian Cancer Registry (CCR) states that cancer incidence increased from 547.5 cases to 550.2 per 100,000 Canadians.

Statistics Canada noted Tuesday (August 23) that the information predates the COVID-19 pandemic that started in 2020.

“The increase in the overall number of cases is a consequence of both population growth and population aging,” the report stated.

The five most commonly diagnosed cancers were of the breast (13.1 percent), lung and bronchus (12.3 percent), prostate (11.4 percent), colorectal (10.4 percent) and urinary bladder (4.9 percent).

“Together, these five cancer types accounted for over half of all cancer diagnoses in 2019,” Statistics Canada related.

Moreover, the trend was “in keeping with the previous years”.

The account also cited projections of an estimated 233,900 new cancer cases expected in Canada in 2022.

As well, 85,100 cancer deaths are expected in the country this year.

Statistics Canada noted that the 2019 numbers do not include those from Quebec and Nova Scotia because the two provinces did not submit information to the CCR during that year.

Excluding the said provinces, the 10 most commonly diagnosed cancers among females in 2019 were of breast, 26.6 percent; lung and bronchus, 12.8 percent; colorectal, 9.7 percent; body of the uterus, seven percent; thyroid, 4.3 percent; non-Hodgkin lymphoma, 4.1 percent; melanoma of the skin, 3.8 percent; ovary, 2.7 percent; pancreas, 2.7 percent; and urinary bladder, 2.4 percent.

Among males, the top 10 were of prostate, 22.4 percent; lung and bronchus, 11.9 percent; colorectal, 11.2 percent; urinary bladder, 7.3 percent; non-Hodgkin lymphoma, 5.1 percent; melanoma of the skin, 4.7 percent; kidney and renal pelvis, 4.2 percent; pancreas, 2.9 percent; stomach, 2.2 percent; and liver, 1.9 percent.