Every Ethiopian count on this page is a modelled estimate from the same source: the IARC Global Cancer Observatory (opens in a new tab) fact sheet for Ethiopia, GLOBOCAN 2024 round. Ethiopia’s estimate for 2024 was 79,239 cases. After breast and cervical cancer, 52,240 of them remain. The eight largest sites within that remainder account for 25,780 of them — 49.3%, just under half. This page covers those eight and two more, oesophagus and ovary. For several of them an agent with sufficient evidence of causing cancer at that site is identified. That is where prevention has something to work with. The agents are hepatitis B for liver cancer, Helicobacter pylori for stomach cancer, tobacco for lung cancer, and alcohol for colorectal and oesophageal cancer.
Key facts
- After breast and cervix, these were the largest Ethiopian sites by estimated new cases in 2024. Colorectum 7,372, prostate 3,494, leukaemia 2,967 and thyroid 2,946. Then liver 2,346, stomach 2,323, lung 2,314 and non-Hodgkin lymphoma 2,018 (opens in a new tab).
- Cervix, liver, stomach, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, nasopharynx and Kaposi sarcoma together accounted for 16,340 of Ethiopia’s 79,239 estimated cases in 2024, roughly a fifth. That total is a CPR – Ethiopia sum of IARC’s site estimates (GLOBOCAN 2024). All are sites with an established infectious cause, and two of those causes — hepatitis B and HPV — have vaccines.
- Estimated deaths sit close to estimated cases at liver (2,143 against 2,346), oesophagus (1,669 against 1,855) and lung (2,078 against 2,314). Thyroid runs the other way, at 707 against 2,946 (IARC, GLOBOCAN 2024).
- An estimated 7.66 million Ethiopians were living with chronic hepatitis B in 2024 (opens in a new tab) (WHO Global Health Observatory, indicator
HEPATITIS_HBV_LIVINGWITH_NUM). Chronic hepatitis B is an established cause of liver cancer, and the vaccine against it is in Ethiopia’s routine childhood schedule.
Colorectal cancer
Third overall in the 2024 estimates (IARC, GLOBOCAN 2024), at 7,372 cases and 4,108 deaths. That splits 3,518 in men and 3,854 in women. Among men it sat roughly level with prostate cancer, 24 cases apart on modelled estimates. That makes the ordering between them provisional.
Two established exposures apply. IARC classifies alcoholic drinks as carcinogenic to humans (opens in a new tab), with sufficient evidence for colon and for rectum. Processed meat likewise carries sufficient evidence for those two sites, with limited evidence for stomach. Red meat sits in a lower evidence category.
Prostate, leukaemia and thyroid cancer
Fourth, fifth and sixth by estimated cases in 2024 (IARC, GLOBOCAN 2024), at 3,494, 2,967 and 2,946. By estimated deaths the same three sites gave 2,134, 1,931 and 707. Among the exposures IARC lists, red meat carries limited evidence for prostate.
Liver cancer
Chronic hepatitis B and chronic hepatitis C are both established causes of liver cancer. So are aflatoxins, which are produced by moulds. They are a plausible exposure alongside hepatitis B, given maize and groundnut storage conditions in parts of Ethiopia.
Of those three causes, hepatitis B is the one with Ethiopian figures attached. About 4.9% of infected Ethiopians had been diagnosed in 2024 and 0.07% were receiving treatment. Both are WHO modelled estimates (indicators HEPATITIS_HBV_DIAGNOSIS_PERINFECTED_PER100 and HEPATITIS_HBV_TREATMENT_PERINFECTED_PER100). WHO’s account of low-income settings is that liver cancer is usually found at an advanced stage. Vaccination protects the generation growing up, and does nothing for those already infected. Hepatitis B infection in Ethiopian children under five fell from 1.5% in 2015 to 0.6% in 2024 (indicator SDGHEPHBSAGPRV). Infections sets this out in full.
Stomach cancer
An estimated 2,323 cases and 1,834 deaths in 2024, on the IARC Global Cancer Observatory (opens in a new tab) estimates. Helicobacter pylori, a stomach bacterium, is an established cause of stomach cancer and of a type of stomach lymphoma. There is no vaccine against it. Treatment is a course of antibiotics. At national scale that raises antibiotic-resistance questions a programme would have to plan for.
Lung cancer
Ninth by estimated cases and sixth by estimated deaths in 2024. Worldwide, lung cancer was both the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer death that year. WHO attributes 60–70% of preventable lung cancer to tobacco smoking (opens in a new tab). Ethiopian adult tobacco use was 4.6% in 2024 as surveyed (WHO Global Health Observatory, indicator TOBACCO_MPOWER_M1_PREVALENCE), and 4.5% as modelled (M_Est_tob_curr). Current tobacco smoking among 13–15-year-olds was 10.3% in 2023, roughly double the adult rate. Tobacco sets out all of it.
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, nasopharynx and Kaposi sarcoma
Estimated at 2,018, 1,337 and 157 cases in 2024, on the IARC Global Cancer Observatory (opens in a new tab) estimates. All three sit on the infection-linked list. Chronic hepatitis C and HIV-1 are both established causes of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and H. pylori of one form of it. Epstein–Barr virus is an established cause of nasopharyngeal cancer and of several lymphomas. Kaposi sarcoma follows Kaposi sarcoma herpesvirus, with HIV as a co-factor. Ethiopian adult HIV prevalence was 0.6% in 2025, down from 1.1% in 2015 (WHO Global Health Observatory (opens in a new tab)).
Oesophageal and ovarian cancer
Oesophageal cancer accounted for an estimated 1,855 cases in 2024. Alcoholic drinks carry sufficient evidence for it. Very hot drinks are classified one category lower, with limited evidence for one type of it. Ovarian cancer accounted for an estimated 1,544 cases and 1,085 deaths in 2024. Both counts are IARC Global Cancer Observatory (opens in a new tab) estimates.
What this means in Ethiopia
Roughly a fifth of Ethiopian cancers in 2024 occurred at sites with an established infectious cause. That is why the reduce your risk pages concentrate on hepatitis B and HPV rather than on the behavioural risks that dominate prevention material written elsewhere.
Hepatitis B is the clearest case. It is an established cause of liver cancer, and a vaccine is already in the childhood schedule. In 2024, 7.66 million Ethiopians were living with the chronic infection, of whom about 4.9% had been diagnosed. Both are WHO modelled estimates. Hepatitis B infection in Ethiopian children under five fell from 1.5% in 2015 to 0.6% in 2024. The vaccine is therefore reaching the generation growing up. Testing is the route for adults already infected.
What you can do
- Complete your child’s routine immunisations. Hepatitis B vaccine is part of the Ethiopian schedule, including a dose at birth.
- Consider asking for a hepatitis B test. About 4.9% of Ethiopians living with chronic hepatitis B had been diagnosed in 2024, on WHO’s modelled estimate. Most of those infected do not know it. Ask at your health facility whether testing is available there, what monitoring follows a positive result, what antiviral treatment involves and what it costs.
- If you use tobacco in any form, stopping lowers your risk.
- Take a change you have noticed to a health worker. Signs and symptoms sets out the changes that are a reason to be seen, and what to say when you go.