Vital registration, vital registration sample, and cancer registry data were used to produce mortality, incidence, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) estimates in this systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. A total of 448,000 incident cases of pancreatic cancer worldwide were noted in 2017, of which 232,000 were in males. For both sexes, there was a 2.3 times increase in number of deaths from 196,000 in 1990 to 441,000 in 2017. There was a 2.1 times elevation in DALYs because of pancreatic cancer, progressing from 4.4 million in 1990 to 9.1 million in 2017. In the high-income super-region, across all years from 1990 to 2017, the age-standardized death rate of pancreatic cancer was highest. The numbers of incident cases and deaths plateaued at the ages of 65–69 years and at 75–79 years for males vs females. Age-standardized pancreatic cancer deaths globally were principally attributable to smoking, high fasting plasma glucose, and high BMI in 2017. In summary, worldwide, from 1990 to 2017, the number of deaths, incident cases, and DALYs caused due to pancreatic cancer more than doubled. The rise in incidence of pancreatic cancer is likely to persist as the population ages. Prevention approaches should thus focus on modifiable risk factors.