It is difficult to estimate the number of people around the world who work diligently to collect the data that are presented in Cancer Incidence in Five Continents. One thing is clear: it is a large number. Their combined work is summarized in the pages of this volume. Cancer Incidence in Five Continents has become the recognized reference source on the incidence of cancer in populations around the world. The ninth volume has a wider coverage than before, presenting data from around the year 2000 (ideally the period 1998-2002) not only for entire populations, but also for sub-populations living in the same geographic area. This volume presents incidence data from populations all over the world for which good quality data are available. Scanning through the information gives a clear presentation of the changing cancer patterns worldwide. The nine volumes of Cancer Incidence in Five Continents now cover a period of approximately forty years.