Under-50 bowel cancer rates rise across 27 regions

World Cancer Research Fund data cited by Deutsche Welle on Oct. 8 show England’s under-50 bowel-cancer diagnosis rate rose from about one in 26,000 people in 2001 to about one in 12,000 in 2023.

A 2025 study of 50 countries and territories cited in the Oct. 8 DW article found early-onset colorectal cancer rising in 27 regions, making the England doubling part of a broader pattern rather than a single-country anomaly.

Amy Berrington de Gonzalez, professor of clinical epidemiology at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, told DW the absolute numbers remain low. “Cancer is still very uncommon among young people,” she said. “Three times a small number is still a small number.”

The World Cancer Research Fund, an international network of charities, analyzed registry data from England, the United States and the Netherlands. DW reported that the analysis found new cancer cases had increased for seven cancers in England alone.

Latin America is one focus of concern. The 2025 study found early-onset colorectal cancer rates rose in Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Puerto Rico, with Chile’s increase close to 4% a year.

Hospital data from Brazil point in the same direction but carry a narrower meaning. At the A.C. Camargo Cancer Center in Sao Paulo, colorectal cancer patients under 50 increased by 7.6% a year from 2000 to 2023, a five-fold increase, while patients over 50 rose by 8.1% a year, or about six-fold.

DW said the Brazilian figures came from one hospital, so they do not prove a nationwide rise. “We need better cancer registration systems,” Berrington de Gonzalez said, “especially in countries like Brazil and Mexico, where obesity rates have also been increasing.”

Another 2025 study covering 42 countries compared people aged 20 to 49 with those aged 50 and older between 2003 and 2017. It found thyroid, breast, colorectal, kidney, uterine cancers and leukemia increased among younger adults in most countries; all except colorectal cancer also rose among older adults.

Colorectal cancer, or bowel cancer, differs from that wider pattern. In about a third of the countries studied, it increased faster in younger adults than in older adults, and Berrington de Gonzalez told DW it was “the one cancer that seems to be increasing in younger people whilst decreasing in older people.”

Researchers have not established how much of the increase reflects more disease rather than more detection. A U.S. study of pancreatic cancer in adults aged 15 to 39 found the increase came almost entirely from early-stage tumors, while death rates did not change, which its authors said pointed to more early diagnoses.

DW reported that colorectal cancer data look less clear-cut. Some U.S. studies show increases in advanced-stage colorectal disease too, suggesting an actual rise in cases rather than only earlier discovery.

Obesity is an established cause of at least 13 cancers, according to the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. A 2021 review cited by DW found young adults with obesity were almost twice as likely to develop colorectal cancer before age 50.

Marc Gunter, professor of cancer epidemiology at Imperial College London, told DW that evidence linking ultra-processed foods and microplastics to cancer remains inconclusive. “There’s a lot of hype,” he said, while Berrington de Gonzalez added: “Diets have changed, but we don’t yet know the role they might play.”

Gunter said young adults could reduce risk by maintaining a healthy weight, being more active, eating more fiber and cutting back on processed meat. “Going for a walk, being more physically active, eating more fruits and vegetables,” he said. “Those things are maybe not so trendy, but they are really important.”