# Cancer registries and population surveillance

Source: https://onco.cc/technologies/cancer-registries-surveillance/  
OnCo record `cancer-registries-surveillance` (Technology). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

The public systems that count every cancer diagnosis and death in a country, which tell us whether incidence and survival are improving.

## Summary

Population-based registries (US SEER and NPCR, England's NDRS, the Nordic registries, Canada, Australia, Japan, IARC's GLOBOCAN compilation) and hospital registries (NCDB) record incidence, stage, treatment, and survival; they underpin screening evaluation, disparities research, and the CONCORD global survival comparisons. Coverage and data completeness vary widely; many low- and middle-income countries lack population registries, so global burden estimates are modelled.

## Fields

- Kind: Technology
- Status: standard-of-care
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Tags: supporting
- Principle: Registries rest on mandatory reporting from pathology labs and hospitals, record linkage to death and census data, and standard coding (ICD-O-3, TNM) with quality indicators.
- Strengths: Unbiased population denominator; Long time series
- Limitations: 2-3 year reporting lag; Little treatment or biomarker detail in many registries; Coverage gaps globally

## Sources

- Cancer Statistics, 2020: Report from National Cancer Registry Programme, India (JCO Global Oncology 2020): https://doi.org/10.1200/GO.20.00122

## Connected records

- collections: [SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results)](https://onco.cc/collections/seer/)
- fronts: [AI & Computation](https://onco.cc/fronts/ai-computation/), [Prevention & Risk](https://onco.cc/fronts/prevention/)
- technologies: [Oncology EHR and real-world data platforms](https://onco.cc/technologies/oncology-real-world-data/)
- institutions: [Cancer Institute (WIA), Adyar](https://onco.cc/institutions/cancer-institute-adyar/), [Cancer Institute of Iran, Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex](https://onco.cc/institutions/tehran-cancer-institute/), [Dharmais National Cancer Center](https://onco.cc/institutions/dharmais-cancer-hospital/), [Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital](https://onco.cc/institutions/hcmc-oncology-hospital/), [Indian Council of Medical Research](https://onco.cc/institutions/icmr/), [Institut Salah Azaïez](https://onco.cc/institutions/institut-salah-azaiez/), [Instituto Nacional de Câncer (INCA)](https://onco.cc/institutions/inca-brazil/), [Instituto Nacional de Cancerología (Colombia)](https://onco.cc/institutions/inc-colombia/), [Instituto Nacional de Cancerología (Mexico)](https://onco.cc/institutions/incan-mexico/), [Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas](https://onco.cc/institutions/inen-peru/), [Kenyatta National Hospital](https://onco.cc/institutions/kenyatta-national-hospital/), [Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology](https://onco.cc/institutions/kidwai-memorial-institute-of-oncology/), [National Cancer Center Korea](https://onco.cc/institutions/ncc-korea/), [National Cancer Grid of India](https://onco.cc/institutions/national-cancer-grid/), [National Cancer Institute (NIH)](https://onco.cc/institutions/nci/), [National Cancer Institute, Cairo University](https://onco.cc/institutions/nci-cairo/), [National Cancer Registry Programme (ICMR-NINE, Bengaluru)](https://onco.cc/institutions/icmr-ncrp/), [Osaka International Cancer Institute](https://onco.cc/institutions/osaka-international-cancer-institute/), [Vietnam National Cancer Hospital (K Hospital)](https://onco.cc/institutions/k-hospital-hanoi/), [Zentrum für Krebsregisterdaten am Robert Koch-Institut](https://onco.cc/institutions/zfkd-rki/), [Zhejiang Cancer Hospital](https://onco.cc/institutions/zhejiang-cancer-hospital/)
- terms: [Incidence versus prevalence](https://onco.cc/terms/incidence-vs-prevalence/), [Mortality](https://onco.cc/terms/mortality/), [Real-world evidence](https://onco.cc/terms/real-world-evidence/), [Why nobody knows how many skin cancers there are: the counting rule behind every figure](https://onco.cc/terms/keratinocyte-cancer-counting/)
- key papers: [Allemani 2018: CONCORD-3, global surveillance of cancer survival 2000 to 2014](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-allemani-concord-3-lancet-2018/), [Cancer Statistics, 2020: Report from National Cancer Registry Programme, India](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-mathur-ncrp-cancer-statistics-2020/), [Chen 2016: Cancer statistics in China, 2015](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-chen-cancer-statistics-china-2015-cacancer-2016/), [Ferlay 2015: sources, methods and major patterns in GLOBOCAN 2012](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-ferlay-globocan-2012-methods-ijc-2015/), [Ferlay 2019: GLOBOCAN 2018 sources and methods](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-ferlay-globocan-2018-methods-ijc-2019/), [Ferlay 2021: cancer statistics for the year 2020, an overview](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-ferlay-cancer-statistics-2020-overview-ijc-2021/), [Fitzmaurice 2017: the Global Burden of Disease estimate of cancer in 2015](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-fitzmaurice-gbd-cancer-2015-jamaoncol-2017/), [Jemal 2007: Cancer statistics, 2007](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-jemal-cancer-statistics-2007-cacancer-2007/), [Jemal 2008: Cancer statistics, 2008](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-jemal-cancer-statistics-2008-cacancer-2008/), [Jemal 2009: Cancer statistics, 2009](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-jemal-cancer-statistics-2009-cacancer-2009/), [Jemal 2010: Cancer statistics, 2010](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-jemal-cancer-statistics-2010-cacancer-2010/), [Parkin 2005: Global cancer statistics, 2002](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-parkin-global-cancer-statistics-2002-cacancer-2005/), [Siegel 2012: Cancer statistics, 2012](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-siegel-cancer-statistics-2012-cacancer-2012/), [Siegel 2013: Cancer statistics, 2013](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-siegel-cancer-statistics-2013-cacancer-2013/), [Siegel 2014: Cancer statistics, 2014](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-siegel-cancer-statistics-2014-cacancer-2014/), [Siegel 2015: Cancer statistics, 2015](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-siegel-cancer-statistics-2015-cacancer-2015/), [Siegel 2016: Cancer statistics, 2016](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-siegel-cancer-statistics-2016-cacancer-2016/), [Siegel 2017: Cancer statistics, 2017](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-siegel-cancer-statistics-2017-cacancer-2017/), [Siegel 2018: Cancer statistics, 2018](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-siegel-cancer-statistics-2018-cacancer-2018/), [Siegel 2019: Cancer statistics, 2019](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-siegel-cancer-statistics-2019-cacancer-2019/), [Siegel 2021: Cancer statistics, 2021](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-siegel-cancer-statistics-2021-cacancer-2021/), [Siegel 2022: Cancer statistics, 2022](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-siegel-cancer-statistics-2022-cacancer-2022/)
- journals: [Journal of registry management](https://onco.cc/journals/journal-of-registry-management/)
- people: [Prashant Mathur](https://onco.cc/people/mathur-prashant/), [V. Shanta](https://onco.cc/people/shanta-v/)
- cancers: [Rare cancers of childhood (NCI PDQ umbrella)](https://onco.cc/cancers/rare-childhood-cancers/)

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