Over 7.5 million people will have died from cancer in 2007, with over 12 million new cases, according to the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) first global study on the disease.

Approximately 1 of 8 deaths (20,000 per day) is cancer-related—more than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined.

The majority of cases were in developing nations, with 4.7 million deaths and 6.7 million new cases. Developed countries had 2.9 million deaths and 5.4 million new cases.

The report points to citizens of these countries adopting Western lifestyles (little physical exercise, high calorie diets including saturated fats, and cigarette smoking) as a major contributing factor.

Other factors include the lack of medical centers for early detection and insufficient knowledge of the disease among the population.

If current conditions continue, the ACS estimates that by 2050 there will be 27 million new cases per year and 17.5 million cancer deaths worldwide, mostly due to an aging population.