Cancer cases are on the rise across the EU amid an ageing population, lifestyle risk factors and improved testing practices.
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In 2024, there were 2.7 million new cancer cases across the bloc’s 27 member states, according to a new OECD report.
Since 2000, the number of new cancer cases has surged by about 30% for both men and women, with estimates predicting half a million new cases by 2040.
Cancer incidence among young women is increasing particularly fast: it is estimated that 2.4 women and 2.8 men were diagnosed with cancer every minute in 2024.
Half of the estimated cancer rates were found in three cancer sites, depending on the sex: breast (30%), colorectal (12%) and lung (9%) cancers for women, and prostate (22%), lung (14%) and colorectal (13%) cancers for men.
Are cancers appearing at a younger age?
The rate of new cancer cases relative to the population grew by 16% over the past two decades, mainly driven by factors such as increased detection of thyroid cancer, changing reproductive patterns for breast cancer, and early life exposure and diet for colorectal cancer.
The increase in cancer among young women aged between 15 and 49 contributed to nearly a quarter of the overall change, while it remained almost unchanged among men of the same age.
The most significant drivers of the increase in cancer incidence among young women since 2000 are thyroid cancer (+9.9 per 100,000 women), breast cancer (+8.7), skin melanoma (+4.2) and colorectal cancer (+0.8).
The largest increases of breast cancer were observed in Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Ireland, Portugal, Slovenia, and Sweden.
The highest incidence of thyroid cancer in younger women was recorded in Cyprus, Croatia, and Italy.
Meanwhile, for men, the incidence of early-onset testicular and skin melanoma cancers rose by +3.7 per 100,000 and +2.8 per 100,000, respectively, from 2000 to 2022.
The largest change in incidence rates of testicular cancer was seen in Croatia, the Netherlands, and Poland.
EU pumps more into cancer healthcare funding
Faced with surging cancer rates, European countries across the board have ramped up spending to combat the disease.
A 2025 report by the Swedish Institute for Health Economics estimated that 2023 cancer spending ranged from about 4% of health spending in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway) to about 8% in France, Germany and the Central and Eastern European countries of Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland and Romania.
In addition, cancer-related health spending in the EU has doubled since 1995, reaching 6.9% of total health expenditure in 2023.
Estimated health expenditure on cancer increased more quickly in Central and Eastern Europe than in other countries between 1993 and 2023, leading to some convergence in cancer spending between countries.
Growth in spending on cancer has outpaced growth in total health spending in Czechia, France, Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands, but not in others like Estonia, Finland, Norway, or Slovenia.
Nevertheless, by 2050, an increase in the number of cancer cases, linked to population ageing, is expected to lead to 59% higher per-capita cancer spending in real terms in the 27 member states.
While population-based cancer screening programmes have proven cost-effective as they improve early detection and lead to higher survival, their uptake remains uneven across countries and social groups.
Across EU countries, men with a low level of education face an 83% higher cancer mortality rate than highly educated men,according to the OECD study, while women with a low level of education are 31% more likely to die from cancer than highly educated women.
People living with cancer also face lasting challenges in employment, financial security, and psychosocial health.
A cancer diagnosis reduces the likelihood of employment by 14% on average, with the largest impact in Central and Southern Europe.
