What was claimed
Melanoma is the most common cancer globally.
Our verdict
False. WHO data shows melanoma skin cancer is the 17th most common cancer site globally.
Melanoma is not the ‘most common cancer globally’
Articles in the Guardian and the i paper claimed that melanoma skin cancer is the “most common” cancer “globally”.
This isn’t correct, according to the latest data, and the i paper corrected its article after Full Fact got in touch. Melanoma skin cancer is actually the 17th most common cancer site worldwide, according to 2022 figures published by the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
There are two main types of skin cancer: melanoma and non-melanoma. Non-melanoma skin cancer is the much more common of the two, however, current WHO data suggests that even when both are combined, skin cancer still falls behind breast, lung and bowel cancer cases globally. (It’s worth noting that the IARC and the US government’s National Cancer Institute have previously said skin cancer more broadly is the most common type of cancer, but this still wouldn’t make the claims about melanoma correct. We’ve contacted the WHO and the IARC to attempt to clarify this but have not received a response).
Cancer Research UK told Full Fact that “historically non-melanoma skin cancer was underreported in the UK as it was diagnosed and treated in primary care, although reporting has since improved. As we don't know the extent of underreporting on non-melanoma skin cancer globally, we can't say for sure that skin cancer is the most common form globally.”
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The i paper claimed: “Melanoma is the most common cancer globally and in the UK, ranked fifth most deadly.”
It’s not clear whether the article is intending to say that melanoma is the most common cancer in the UK, or the fifth most deadly cancer in the UK, but neither of these claims would be correct.
Cancer Research UK told us that melanoma skin cancer is the fifth most common cancer in the UK (as correctly stated by the Guardian and which the i has now corrected its article to say), and the 19th most common cause of cancer death.
We’ve contacted the Guardian for comment and will update this article if we receive a response.
This claim was detected using Full Fact’s AI tools.