Although new treatments for cancer patients are emerging, various cancer types continue to take the most lives in Turkey. According to the statement released from the Health Ministry, 96,000 men and 67,000 women are diagnosed with cancer every year in Turkey. Lung and prostate cancer are most common cancer types seen among Turkish men, while breast cancer is common among women. Every year, more than 27,000 males are diagnosed with lung cancer related to smoking tobacco. Colon cancer, on the other hand, is the third deadliest cancer type among both males and females. The statistics suggest that 49,946 men and 27,022 women died of cancer in Turkey in 2015.

Overall, Turkey largely fits in with the globally reported instances of cancer. The most commonly diagnosed cancers worldwide were those of the lung cancer (1.8 million, 13 percent of total diagnoses), breast cancer (1.7 million) and colorectal cancer (1.4 million), according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)'s online database, GLOBOCAN 2012. GLOBOCAN 2012 revealed that the most common causes of death by cancer were those of the lung (1.6 million), liver (0.8 million) and stomach (0.7 million).