**2. Global trends**

In 2012, 86,691 nasopharynx cancer cases occurred in the world and 50,831 nasopharynx death cases, and in 2018 there were around 130,000 accidents and more than 73,000 deaths from nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) worldwide [14]. The global NPC incidence and mortality distribution reported very high rates (more than 20-30/100,000 men and 10/100,000 women) in Southeast Asia [15], some regions of southern China, [16], Singapore, [17] Hong Kong, [18] Taiwan, [19] Selected Chinese immigrants (mainly to North America), [20, 21] and the Middle East [22]. In most of the western countries, Latin America and Japan that are non-endemic areas, the incidence rate of NPC showed less than 1/100,000 [23]. Recent studies have shown the incidence of NPC is high in cities like Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Hong Kong, and Jiangmen (standard age: 12.8-25 per 100,000 per year for men) in southern China [24–26] (**Figure 1**).

**Figure 1.** *Incidence of Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (2012) (GLOBOCAN 2012) [26].*
