Global welfare-based economic burden of gastric cancer and projections to 2050

Gastric cancer (GC) imposes substantial welfare losses that are rarely monetized. Using GC disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 and GDP from the World Bank, we estimated the value of lost welfare (VLW) by monetizing DALYs based on a willingness-to-pay framework. Both undiscounted and discounted values were estimated, and trends were projected to 2050. In 2021, the global VLW from GC was Int$2,470.34 billion (undiscounted) and Int$1,681.55 billion (discounted), equivalent to 1.615% and 1.099% of GDP, respectively. East Asia contributed the largest VLW, with China bearing the highest national burden. High-middle-SDI regions bore the greatest absolute burden, whereas relative burden increasingly shifted toward low-SDI regions. Welfare losses rose sharply with age and occurred earlier in men than in women. Under current trends, global VLW is projected to increase by 58.41% by 2050, highlighting growing economic and equity challenges worldwide.