RABAT (AFP) -- Seven and a half million people worldwide died from cancer in 2005 and the number of cases in the Middle East is expected to soar over the next 15 years, Moroccan news agency MAP quoted the World Health Organization as saying.

"More than 70 percent of these fatal cases were reported in low- and medium-income countries," WHO official Raouf Benammar told an international conference in Skhirat, near the Moroccan capital Rabat.

Cancer of the uterus -- the second most common form of cancer in women after breast cancer -- caused the death of more than 250,000 women in 2005 and 80 percent of those cases were in developing countries, the WHO added.

"Cancer is the fourth most common cause of death in the Eastern Mediterranean region after cardiovascular diseases, contagious disease and physical injuries caused by accidents," Benammar said. "The WHO expects a substantial increase in cancer in the Eastern Mediterranean region over the next 15 years. The increase is expected to be between 100 and 180 percent."

The WHO defines the Eastern Mediterrean region as covering the following 22 countries: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.