Objective: One of the most common malignant tumors around the world is pancreatic cancer. This cancer is the 12th most common malignancy and classified as the seventh cause of cancer deaths, depending on its high mortality rate. Considering the importance of the incidence, mortality rate, and risk factors in prevention programs, this study was conducted to investigate the incidence, mortality, and risk factors for pancreatic cancer in the world.

Materials and Methods: This review was conducted on published English publications by January 2017 by searching in the databases of PubMed, Scopus and Web of Acience. The search strategy included the following key words: “pancreatic cancer”, “epidemiology”, “incidence”, “mortality”, “risk factors” and “world”. Articles related to the incidence, mortality, and causes of pancreatic cancer were studied and included into the study.

Results: The highest incidence of pancreatic cancer in North America in 2012 was 7.4 per 100,000 people and in Western Europe 7.3 per 100,000 people; in other regions of Europe, Australia and New Zealand, the highest rate was reported at about 6.5 per 100,000 people. Also, the maximum mortality rates from pancreatic cancer in North America and Western Europe countries were 6.9 and 6.8 per 100000 people, respectively, in other regions of Europe, Australia and New Zealand it was 6.0 per 100,000. Furthermore the lowest mortality rates were reported from countries of Central Africa and South-Central Asia, which were less than 1.0 in 1,000,000. The risk of the disease is affected by host and environmental factors such as aging, non-heritable blood type, heredity and its relation to other diseases, such as diabetes and chronic pancreatitis, smoking, obesity, H. pylori infection.

Conclusions: The incidence and mortality of pancreatic cancer in developed countries is higher than developing countries, and its incidence and death rates are rising gradually. In order to further acquaintance with the incidence and mortality rate and recognizing and controlling the risk factors for this cancer may provide opportunities to improve prognosis and reduce mortality.