In countries with a westernised lifestyle about half of all deaths are caused by circulatory disease and a quarter by cancer. Cancer is an important problem in both public health and political terms worldwide, irrespective of a country's development. The most recent estimates of the global cancer burden suggest that there were 8.1 million new cases, excluding non.melanoma skin cancer, worldwide in 1990. About 10 million new cases are now diagnosed each year. Colorectal cancer, however, is not equally common throughout the world.
Large differences exist in survival, according to the stage of disease.
Substantial differences in cancer survival seem to exist between Great Britain, Europe as a whole, and the United States. This variation in survival is not easily explained but could be related to stage of disease at presentation or treatment delivery, or both of these. The relation between poverty and ill health has been researched for more than 100 years. No single, generally agreed definition of deprivation exists. Deprivation is a concept that overlaps but is not synonymous with poverty.