Objective: To estimate the cancer incidence and mortality in 2012 in Guangdong province by analyzing the cancer data of selected population-based cancer registries in Guangdong province in 2012.Methods: Eight of nine population-based cancer registries submitted cancer data to the Guangdong Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention(Guangdong CDC), whose data met the data quality criteria were included for analysis. The statistics of selected registries, stratified by areas, gender, age and cancer types, were used to estimate the cancer incidence and mortality in 2012 in Guangdong province according to the population data in Guangdong province. Segi’s population and the national census population in 2000 were used for calculating the age-standardized rates(ASR). Results: A total of 15,084,942 people, accounted for 17.47% of all population in Guangdong province, were covered in 8 selected population-based cancer registries in 2012. The percentage of cases morphologically verified(MV%) and the percentage of death certificate-only cases(DCO%) were 72.84% and 0.87%, respectively, and the mortality/incidence(M/I) ratio was 0.56. It was estimated that there were 211,300 new cancer cases and 117,300 cancer deaths. The incidence crude rate(CR), the ASR by Chinese standard population(ASRC) and by world standard population(ASRW), and the accumulated rate(AR)(0-74 years) were 250.20/100,000(265.39/100,000 in males, 234.29/100,000 in females), 207.04/100,000, 201.34/100,000 and 22.91%, respectively, in Guangdong province in 2012. The incidence CR and ASRC were 267.25/100,000 and 221.43/100,000 in urban areas, and 215.51/100,000 and 178.77/100,000 in rural areas, respectively. The death CR, ASRC, ASRW and AR(0-74 years) were 148.44/100,000(190.95/100,000 in males, 105.06/100,000 in females), 103.73/100,000, 102.44/100,000 and 11.68%, respectively, in Guangdong province in 2012. The death CR and ASRC were 164.57/100,000 and 105.46/100,000 in urban areas, and 124.63/100,000 and 99.97/100,000 in rural areas, respectively. Top 5 cancers were lung cancer, liver cancer, female breast cancer, colon cancer and nasopharyngeal cancers(NPC), and top 5 death cancers were lung cancer, liver cancer, colon cancer, stomach cancer, and NPC in Guangdong province in 2012.Conclusions: Lung cancer, liver cancer, female breast cancer, colon cancer and NPC were the major economic cancer burdens and health concerns in Guangdong province in 2012. Early prevention, diagnosis and treatment of different cancers, survival quality improvement and cancer burden reduction, are important issues we faced in cancer control and prevention.