According to the new edition of the World Cancer Report from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, due to rapid increase in cancer cases, cancer will soon replace heart disease as the leading cause of deaths worldwide. Report added that low- and middle-income countries will experience the impact of higher cancer incidence and death rates more sharply than industrialized countries.

Cancer will become No. 1 cause of death worldwide by 2010. Report projected that 2.4 million people will be diagnosed with some form of cancer this year and 7.6 million people will die.

Report said: "The global cancer burden doubled in the last 30 years of the 20th century, and it is estimated that this will double again between 2000 and 2020 and nearly triple by 2030."

According to report, 26.4 million people a year may be diagnosed with cancer by 2030, with 17 million people dying from it. There will be 1% increase in cancer incidences each year, with larger increases in China, Russia, and India. Adoption of tobacco use and higher-fat diets and demographic changes, including a projected population increase of 38% in less-developed countries between 2008 and 2030 are main reasons of increase in cancer cases in these countries.