Lung cancer is primarily a condition developed in old age, with average age of onset age 65, according to ACS literature. Along with the decreased death rates come more older Americans. That's where the highest percentage of retirees live. And that's where ACS estimates more lung cancers will occur. It has little to do with climate, life styles or economic conditions.
Lung cancer is a disease of old age.
However, not every old person, either smoker or non-smoker, develops lung cancer. Lung cancer is not a condition that occurs with great frequency. But the lung is the organ most often affected. That by no means means smokers are more likely to develop lung cancer as their final illness. Relatively few in any of these three categories die from lung cancer.