Estimation of differences in the incidence of digestive cancers in France was made from incidence data coming from 7 French departments covered by population-based registries. For some localizations, such as cancer of the pancreas, incidence variations could be explained by differences in recording techniques. But geographic variations clearly appeared for digestive tract cancers: the incidence of esophageal cancer is 4 to 5 fold less in the departments of Tarn and Haute-Garonne than in the department of Calvados. Conversely, the incidence of colorectal cancer is lower in the department of Calvados than in the others. For the entire country, the estimated number of digestive cancers is 46,300 cases per year. This number represents a third of all cancers in males and a fourth in females. Colorectal cancer (25,700 cases per year) is the most frequent of all cancers in both sexes. Cancer of the stomach (8,200 cases per year) is the second digestive cancer, equal to esophageal cancer in males. The heavy burden of digestive cancers in public health is emphasized by our results. These results should lead our country to intensify research in the direction of primary and secondary prevention.