The number of young adults diagnosed with cancer has increased significantly in recent decades.
According to the Comprehensive Cancer Center of the Netherlands, the disease was diagnosed in almost 4,200 Dutch people between the ages of 18 and 39 last year, compared to 3,100 diagnoses in 1990.
Breast cancer is the most common variant in young women, and testicular cancer in young men. Melanoma, a form of skin cancer, is the number two in both women and men. Cancer is one and a half times more common in young women than in young men.
In the population as a whole, the disease actually affects men more often. It is unknown why the number of diagnoses has increased.
The researchers have no concrete cause for the increase.
The number of young adults in the Netherlands decreased slightly during that period, from over 3.8 million in 1990 to over 3.6 million in 2024.
Cancer cases rise sharply among younger adults, new figures show https://t.co/y0RyZAEwsC pic.twitter.com/HJwzNY0nlf
— DutchNews.NL (@DutchNewsNL) May 13, 2025
