In order to examine the epidemiologic characteristics of lung cancer in Taiwan, its mortality rates from 1954 to 1983 and incidence rates from 1983 to 1985 were analyzed. The age-adjusted mortality rate of lung cancer has been increasing since early 1950s. During recent three decades, there was an eightfold increase in lung cancer mortality but the sex (male to female) ratio remained consistently around two-folds. In both males and females, the higher the age, the greater the lung cancer mortality. The age-specific mortality rates of lung cancer significantly higher in recent cohorts than old cohorts. Among the 18 countries and areas compared, the cumulative mortality of lung cancer ranked in Taiwan as the 17th and the 9th, respectively, for males and females, and the sex ratio was the lowest. Chinese in Hong Kong and Singapore had a much higher mortality rates of lung cancer than those in Taiwan and mainland China for all age groups. Areas of high mortality rates of lung cancer in Taiwan were found to cluster in metropolitan precincts and the blackfoot diseass endemic area. Incidence rates of lung cancer increased with age and peaked at age of 75. Migrant study showed a significant difference in the incidence rate of lung cancer among Chinese men in Singapore, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Los Angeles, Hawaii and Taipei; while the difference was much less striking among Chinese women in these areas. Ethnic difference in the age-adjusted incidence rate of lung cancer was also observed in these cities.