The World Health Organisation (WHO) has named the nation among the countries with the highest rate of cancer fatalities and new cancer cases worldwide.

Doctors are treating a cancer patient (Photo: Vietnamplus)

According to statistics compiled by the International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR), last year saw  Vietnam climb seven places to rank 92th out of 185 surveyed countries in terms of cancer rates.

This comes following a period of the country’s number of cancer patients being on the rise, with the figure reaching 165,000 cases in 2018 compared to just 68,000 back in 2000, and 126,000 in 2010.

Most notably, the five most common kinds of cancer typically occur in the lung, liver, stomach, rectum, and breast.

According to the IARC, the cancer rate in developed countries remains higher compared to developing ones.

The developed countries recording the highest numbers of cancer cases includes Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the United States, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, France, and Hungary.

In relation to Asia, Japan took the lead for the highest cancer rates, followed by the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and China.

The top five Southeast Asian nations with the highest cancer rates were Singapore, Brunei, Laos, Thailand, and the Philippines.

Vietnam ranked 16th in Asia and sixth in Southeast Asia, with a cancer ratio rate of 159.7 for every 100,000 people.