According to the findings of a research carried out by scientists at the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France, and the American Cancer Society, cancer rates across the world are apparently set to surge by a whopping 75 percent by the year 2030.

As per the study - the first-of-its-kind research that assessed the manner in which present and future rates of cancer might could be different between the rich and the poor countries -, the rise in the cancer rates will be notably sharp in poor countries where more and more people will adopt unhealthy "Westernized" lifestyles.

Noting that most of the developing countries will, in the coming years, witness a rise in living standards, the scientists involved in the study said that poor diet, lack of exercise, and other affluence-linked unhealthy habits would lead to an increase in cases of different cancers, including breast, prostate and colorectal cancers.

Going by the projections put forth by the study, there will likely be a 78 percent increase in cancer rates in middle income countries like China, India and Africa, by 2030; while cases in less developed countries will probably witness a 93 percent rise over the same period.

Commenting on the findings of the study, Freddie Bray from IARC's cancer information section said that cancer is “set to become a major cause of morbidity (sickness) and mortality in the next decades in every region of the world.”