Cancer cases will increase to more than 19M by 2025: WHO.

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Cancer diagnoses have grown from 12.7 million in 2008 to more than 14 million in 2012 and cancer-related deaths rose from 7.6 million to 8.2 million, the World Health Organization says.

Increasingly more people are being diagnosed with cancer globally each year, research shows.

Diagnoses have grown from 12.7 million in 2008 to more than 14 million in 2012 and cancer-related deaths rose from 7.6 million to 8.2 million, according to the World Health Organization. The WHO predicts that the number of cancer cases will rise past more than 19 million a year by 2025.

Experts say that cancer is on the rise in part because many developing countries have adopted certain habits and customs from industrialized nations, the BBC reported.

The British news site said smoking, obesity and longer lifespans have also contributed to the upsurge.

There were 1.8 million cases of lung cancer, roughly 13 % of the total, making it the most common cancer worldwide. The most common cancer in women is breast cancer, which has risen sharply since 2008, the WHO said.

To make matters worse, some patients’ treatments are compromised because of late detection. This has been particularly harmful for teens and young adults.

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Late detection is one reason for cancer’s rise around the world, experts say.

Another study, published in the British Medical Journal, said that cancer patients between ages 16 and 25 are far more likely to visit three or more general practitioners before being referred to a specialist, The Guardian reported.

This delay has cast a shadow over survival rates and created what the news site dubbed "cancer's lost generation."

"I have a strong family history of bowel cancer. At one point, we asked the doctor if I might have cancer and demanded further scans," an 18-year-old with bowel cancer said.

"No, definitely not, you're too young,'" the doctor replied.

The teen was finally told he had cancer after six months of misdiagnoses.

With News Wire Services

mwalsh@nydailynews.com