The radiation safety of the population is a global and important problem of our time. The main radiation background of the Earth is formed due to natural radiation sources. Numerous explorations conducted abroad have convincingly proven that radon and its short-lived daughter decay products create about 40-75% of summary doze that a human gets from all natural sources of ionizing radiation. In 1987, radon and its decay products were classified by experts of the International Agency on Cancer Research as a group of elements carcinogenic to humans. People’s protection from exposure to radioactive natural gas – radon and its decay products is the national problem and requires studying a number of issues related to radon source and radon availability in the buildings. The paper presents the characteristic results of the analysis of the relationship between the incidence rates of the population with malignant neoplasms of the lungs and the distribution of indoor radon. The obtained results confirm the role of radon as a dominant factor leading to a high risk of lung cancer, which should be taken into account in the development and implementation of appropriate preventive social and health measures, construction standards, especially for certain regions of Azerbaijan with a high level of natural radon radiation.

Keywords: medical geology, radon exposure, malignant neoplasms of the lungs, relative risk, radon zones, indoor radon

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