Esophageal cancer is a familiar malignancy with high incidence and mortality, and the overall prognosis is poor. The numbers of cases of and deaths from esophageal cancer have risen rapidly in recent decades. It is one of the most malignant cancers, with more than 0.6 million new cases and 0.54 million deaths worldwide in 2020. Here, we present the global epidemiology of esophageal cancer in 2020 and projections to 2030 and 2040 at different geographical levels of continents, regions and countries, and analyze them by gender, race, geographic region and human development index. We summarize the prospects for the esophageal cancer burden and risk factors in different areas, which will be useful for global esophageal cancer clinical therapy and cancer control planning.© 2022 The Authors. Thoracic Cancer published by China Lung Oncology Group and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.