Every year, the European Week Against Cancer raises awareness about the importance of cancer prevention and care.
Tackling inequalities in cancer, from its prevention to diagnosis and care, is key to ensuring that all patients across Europe can benefit from the efforts of our collective fight against cancer.
Highlights
In 2023, cancer was the second leading cause of death in the EU, with 1.16 million deaths, which equated to 23.9% of the total number of deaths in the EU (Eurostat). Cancer accounted for a higher share (26.4%) of deaths among males than among females (21.4%).
In 2023, Cyprus recorded the lowest standardised death rate for cancer among EU countries, 181.2 per 100 000 inhabitants.
In 2023, among the EU countries, the highest standardised death rates for cancer were recorded in Hungary and Croatia, each with rates above 300 per 100 000 inhabitants.
In 2023, the highest hospital in-patient discharge rate for neoplasms (both benign and malignant) was reported in Austria, with 2 504 in-patients per 100 000 inhabitants.
Since 2021, 70 cancer projects have been co-funded by the EU4Health programme. Out of these, 58 projects address inequalities in prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment, and quality of life and survivorship. Here is a selection of these projects.
Prevention
The Joint Action PreventNCD helps countries find ways to lower the number of cancer and other long-term diseases (NCDs). It looks at policies and actions that can reduce unfair differences in health between different groups of people. The project also runs pilot activities to help people who have less access to healthcare.
At the same time, projects such as CURTAIN, CHOICE, BCLEAR, iNTERVENE and CLEAR-PC work to reduce inequalities by helping people better understand cancer and by improving access to cancer prevention and treatment services.
These projects create useful tools such as digital platforms, online libraries and information campaigns for citizens, patients and healthcare workers. They especially support people who live in areas with weaker healthcare systems, groups that are harder to reach, and people with low digital skills or lower general literacy.
Early detection
The Joint Action EUcanScreen helps countries provide high-quality cancer screening programs. These programs check for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer, as well as newer screening programs for lung, prostate and stomach cancer. The project works to make cancer screening easier to access for everyone by identifying problems and finding solutions both in healthcare systems and for individuals.
The project EUCervScreen QA is updating the European guidelines and quality standards for cervical cancer screening. While doing this, the project also looks at inequalities in screening access both between different countries and within countries, so that more people can receive equal and high-quality care.
Diagnosis and treatment
The Joint Action JANE, concluded in 2024, paved the way to establish 7 European Networks of Expertise in Cancer, which consider addressing cancer inequalities as part of their work. The follow-up Joint Action JANE-2 is producing clinical practice guidelines, developing healthcare organisation models and producing educational tools for cancer medical professionals and patients.
INTERACT-EUROPE 100 addresses inequalities in cancer care by improving inter-specialty training across a broad geographical scope, using translation and digital platforms to reach centres in resource-constrained and rural settings.
Quality of Life and Survivorship
YARN, the European Youth Cancer Network, addresses Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) through tools and initiatives such as surveys, toolkits, inclusivity training and certification systems. The project aims to identify underrepresented groups of young survivors and promote inclusive practices in healthcare, patient organisations and communication campaigns.
HaDEA also managed an EU4Health contract to produce a study about job retention and return to work for cancer patients and survivors. The study mapped and assessed existing policy and legal measures in EU Member States and EEA EFTA States (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway), and explored challenges and obstacles faced by those with a history of cancer in the work environment. 13 examples of measures that support job retention and return to work were identified, including some with a particular focus on young people, women and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
EU4Health is the fourth and largest of the EU health programmes. The EU4Health programme goes beyond an ambitious response to the COVID-19 crisis to address the resilience of European healthcare systems. The programme provides funding to national authorities, health organisations and other bodies through grants and public procurement, contributing to a healthier Europe.
HaDEA manages the vast majority of the total EU4Health budget and implements the programme by managing calls for proposals and tenders from 2021 to 2027.
Statistics
Among the EU countries, the share of all deaths from cancer in 2023 exceeded 26.0% in Slovenia (31.4%), Ireland (28.7%), Denmark (28.0%) and the Netherlands (27.1%). Among males, this share peaked at 35.4% in Slovenia, followed by 30.1% in Spain. Among females, it peaked at 28.0% in Ireland, followed by 27.4% in Slovenia and 26.7% in Denmark. By contrast, fewer than 20.0% of all deaths in Romania (19.0%) and Bulgaria (16.7%) were caused by cancer; this was also the case among females with shares of 17.0% and 15.0%, respectively. Among males the lowest shares were also recorded in Romania (20.9%) and Bulgaria (18.3%)
In the EU, the standardised death rate for cancer was 233.1 per 100 000 inhabitants in 2023, lower than the rate for circulatory diseases, but higher than the rate for other causes of death. The article causes of death statistics looks in more detail at the leading causes of death in the EU.
An analysis by sex and by age shows large differences in standardised death rates for cancer: for males the rate (302.8 per 100 000 male inhabitants) was 65% higher than that for females (183.7 per 100 000 female inhabitants), while the rate for persons aged 65 years and over (936.0 per 100 000 inhabitants over 65) was 15 times as high as it was for younger persons (62.9 per 100 000 inhabitants aged less than 65 years).
Among the EU countries, the highest standardised death rates for cancer were recorded in Hungary and Croatia, both with rates over 300.0 per 100 000 inhabitants in 2023. For males, the highest standardised death rates for cancer were reported in Latvia, Hungary and Croatia, all with rates above 420.0 per 100 000 male inhabitants. For females, the highest standardised death rates for cancer were recorded in Hungary, Croatia and Denmark, each with rates over 220.0 per 100 000 female inhabitants.
In 2023, Cyprus recorded the lowest standardised death rate for cancer among the EU countries, 181.2 per 100 000 inhabitants, and was the only country with a rate below 190.0 per inhabitant. Luxembourg recorded the lowest standardised death rates among males: 229.7 per 100 000 male inhabitants, and Cyprus had the lowest standardised death rate among females: 135.0 per 100 000 female inhabitants.
28.05.2026.
