Cancer incidence and mortality patterns in Europe: Estimates for 40 countries in 2012

Cancer incidence and mortality estimates for 25 cancers are presented for the 40 countries in the four United Nations-defined areas of Europe and for the European Union (EU-27) for 2012.

We used statistical models to estimate national incidence and mortality rates in 2012 from recently-published data, predicting incidence and mortality rates for the year 2012 from recent trends, wherever possible. The estimated rates in 2012 were applied to the correspond- ing population estimates to obtain the estimated numbers of new cancer cases and deaths in Europe in 2012.

There were an estimated 3.45 million new cases of cancer (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) and 1.75 million deaths from cancer in Europe in 2012. The most common cancer sites were cancers of the female breast (464,000 cases); followed by colorectal (447,000), both women and men; prostate (417,000) and lung (410,000), men. These four cancers represent half of the overall burden of cancer in Europe. The most common causes of death from cancer were cancers of the lung (353,000 deaths), colorectal (215,000), breast (131,000) and stomach (107,000). In the Euro- pean Union, the estimated numbers of new cases of cancer were approximately 1.4 million