Incidence

Worldwide, more than a million women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, accounting for a tenth of all new cancers and 23% of all female cancer cases. [|6]  Breast cancer incidence rates vary considerably, with the highest rates in the developed world and the lowest rates in Africa and Asia ( **Figure 1.2 **). [|6]  [|**Download this chart (46KB)**] Around 430,000 new cases of breast cancer occur each year in Europe and an estimated of 212,920 in the USA. The lowest European rates are in Romania and Latvia and the highest are in northern and western Europe.( **Figure 1.3 **). [|7] , [|18]
 * Geographic variation of breast cancer incidence [[image:chart2.jpg]] **