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What you should know about this indicator

  • Estimates come from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). They apply the population attributable fractions from the study "Global burden of cancer attributable to infections in 2018" (de Martel et al., 2020) to the GLOBOCAN 2020 cancer incidence estimates.
  • Ten infectious agents classified as carcinogenic by IARC are covered: Helicobacter pylori, human papillomavirus (HPV), hepatitis B and C viruses, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), human herpesvirus type 8, human T-cell lymphotropic virus, the liver flukes Opisthorchis viverrini and Clonorchis sinensis, and Schistosoma haematobium.
  • Non-melanoma skin cancers are excluded because their registration is often incomplete and inconsistent across countries.
  • Estimates carry uncertainty, especially for countries without population-based cancer registries or with limited data on how common these infections are.
  • For four cancer types (cervical cancer, Kaposi sarcoma, anal squamous cell carcinoma, and adult T-cell leukemia and lymphoma), IARC attributes every case to an infection, so their attributable share is 100% by construction rather than an observed value.
Share of new cancer cases (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) caused by Helicobacter pylori
IARC
Estimated share of new cancer cases (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) that are attributed to Helicobacter pylori, as published by IARC.
Source
International Agency for Research on Cancer (2020) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Last updated
September 6, 2024
Next expected update
October 2026
Date range
2020–2020
Unit
%

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

International Agency for Research on Cancer – Cancers Attributable to Infections

The dataset includes data on cancers linked to ten infectious pathogens classified as carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), such as Helicobacter pylori, hepatitis B and C viruses, and human papillomavirus (HPV). It includes population attributable fractions (PAFs), which estimate the proportion of cancer cases associated with each infection, and age-standardized rates (ASRs), which adjust for age distribution differences to allow for comparisons across populations.

Retrieved on
September 6, 2024
Retrieved from
https://gco.iarc.who.int/causes/infections/tools-map?mode=1&sex=0&continent=0&agent=0&cancer=0&key=asr&scale=quantile
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Methodology described in “Global burden of cancer attributable to infections in 2018: a worldwide incidence analysis; de Martel C, Georges D, Bray F, Ferlay J, Clifford GM; Lancet Glob Health, 2020” applied to 2020 cancer incidence estimates.

The dataset includes data on cancers linked to ten infectious pathogens classified as carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), such as Helicobacter pylori, hepatitis B and C viruses, and human papillomavirus (HPV). It includes population attributable fractions (PAFs), which estimate the proportion of cancer cases associated with each infection, and age-standardized rates (ASRs), which adjust for age distribution differences to allow for comparisons across populations.

Retrieved on
September 6, 2024
Retrieved from
https://gco.iarc.who.int/causes/infections/tools-map?mode=1&sex=0&continent=0&agent=0&cancer=0&key=asr&scale=quantile
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Methodology described in “Global burden of cancer attributable to infections in 2018: a worldwide incidence analysis; de Martel C, Georges D, Bray F, Ferlay J, Clifford GM; Lancet Glob Health, 2020” applied to 2020 cancer incidence estimates.

How we process data at Our World in Data

All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.

At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.

Read about our data pipeline

Reuse this work

  • All data produced by third-party providers and made available by Our World in Data are subject to the license terms from the original providers. Our work would not be possible without the data providers we rely on, so we ask you to always cite them appropriately (see below). This is crucial to allow data providers to continue doing their work, enhancing, maintaining and updating valuable data.
  • All data, visualizations, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.

Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Share of new cancer cases (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) caused by Helicobacter pylori”, part of the following publication: Saloni Dattani, Veronika Samborska, Hannah Ritchie, and Max Roser (2024) - “Cancer”. Data adapted from International Agency for Research on Cancer. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260904-000135/grapher/share-of-new-cancers-caused-by-helicobacter-pylori-bacteria.html [online resource] (archived on September 4, 2026).

How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

International Agency for Research on Cancer (2020) – with minor processing by Our World in Data

Full citation

International Agency for Research on Cancer (2020) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. “Share of new cancer cases (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) caused by Helicobacter pylori – IARC” [dataset]. International Agency for Research on Cancer, “Cancers Attributable to Infections” [original data]. Retrieved September 4, 2026 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260904-000135/grapher/share-of-new-cancers-caused-by-helicobacter-pylori-bacteria.html (archived on September 4, 2026).

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