The IBCR began in 1960 as a population based cancer registry covering the city of Ibadan, Nigeria and the surrounding 11 local government areas. The registry covers rural and urban populations with a slightly higher proportion in the rural areas. IBCR is a major unit within the department of pathology at the University College Hospital Ibadan. Proactive methods are used for data collection with over 30 sources of notification including general and specialist hospitals, pathology laboratories, and privately owned clinics and hospitals. The registry ensures high quality of cancer data by emphasising on histological diagnosis, re-abstraction and recoding of cases. The registry covers a catchment area with a documented population of 2,549,265.