The idea of recording information on all cancer cases in defined community dates from the first half of the twentieth century, and there has been a steady growth in the number of such cancer registries since. Through a series of milestones; population-based cancer registration reached its current status where 290 registries in 68 countries are included in the version X of Cancer Incidence in 5 Continents. Egypt started to be indulged in cancer registration on 1936 and reached the stage of National Population-based Cancer Registry program in 2007. This review describes the evolution of cancer registration from cancer surveys, hospital-based registration and finally population-based registries and how Egypt made advantage of this worldwide evolution of cancer registration, with its pitfalls, difficulties and solutions, to establish its national population-based cancer registry program (NCRPE). The paper also describes most relevant cancer statistics in Egypt and, for the first time, the most recent incidence rates obtained through Egypt NCRPE in 3 regions representing Upper, Middle and Lower Egypt with provisional estimate of cancer incidence rates stratified by gender for entire Egypt.