Incidence, mortality and prevalence of cancers in metropolitan France. About 400,000 new people are diagnosed with cancer every year in metropolitan France, including 53.5% men and 46.5% women. Cancer is also the cause of almost 150,000 annual deaths of which 56% occur in men and 44% in women. Nearly 3.8 million people (1.8 million men and 2.0 million women) aged 15 and over have had cancer during their lifetime and are alive in 2017, or 7.0 % of the population aged 15 and over.