The number of people suffering from cancer is expected to increase by 90 per cent over the next 15 years.
According to a National Cancer Registry of Ireland (NCRI) report published today, cancer numbers will increase from 22,000 a year at present to around 43,000 by 2020.
The report predicts that potentially fatal cancers will more than double, from 13,800 to 28,800, over the same period.
According to the NCR, two-thirds of this increase is attributed to the rise in the elderly population, while the remainder is due to a higher incidence of some common cancers.
The largest expected increases are in cancer of the prostate (a 275 per cent increase in numbers between 2000 and 2020), kidney (an increase of 160 per cent for women and 200 per cent for men) and melanoma (130 per cent increase in women and 170 per cent increase in men).
The registry said that the increase in cancer numbers will place a major additional burden on services and must be addressed now.
"The improvements in cancer survival that are currently being seen, taken with the increasing number of elderly patients, will also generate a much greater need for cancer aftercare services and will require a more active approach to the management of cancer in the elderly," a spokesman for the NCR said.
"If this future cancer burden is to be reduced, action needs to be taken now, both to deal with known risk factors and to identify others, as cancer risk in 2020 will be largely determined by current exposures" he added.