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.

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.

So what is going on in India? Is it an earlier diagnosis for women? Are men's cancers more aggressive, or is it that habits such as smoking and chewing tobacco drag down their outcomes? Or does the answer lie in differences in access, awareness and treatment between genders?

Awareness campaigns and improved facilities mean cancers common among women are often detected earlier.

Men fare worse. Their cancers are more often tied to lifestyle - tobacco and alcohol drive lung and oral cancers, both aggressive and less responsive to treatment.

Men are also less likely to go for preventive check-ups or seek medical help early. The result: higher mortality and poorer outcomes, even when incidence is lower than among women.

Source: BBC - September 16, 2025