According to Eurostat, the statistics agency of the European Union, Estonia is the eighth in the bloc in cancer deaths.
In 2016, 288 people per 100,000 inhabitants in Estonia died of cancer, according to the agency. This is far more than in Cyprus – the country with the least cancer deaths in the EU – where 194 people succumbed to the disease in 2016, the latest year the data is currently available for.
The worst-off country in the EU, in terms of cancer deaths, was Hungary where 345 people died of it in 2016.
When looking at Estonia’s neighbours, then Lithuania was slightly better off with 281 cancer deaths in 2016; in Latvia, 295 people died of cancer that year.
Lung cancer accounts for most deaths
The lowest cancer death rate, after Cyprus, was recorded in Finland (220), Malta (221), Sweden (229) and Spain (230).
Eurostat published the data on 4 February, the World Cancer Day, an event that aims to save preventable deaths by raising awareness and education about cancer.
Altogether, almost 1.2 million people died of cancer in the EU in 2016 – the disease was responsible for 26% of all deaths recorded in the bloc.
The most lives were claimed by lung cancer (20% of all cancer deaths), followed by colorectal cancer (12%), breast cancer (7%) and prostate cancer (6%).
Cover: Lung cancer is responsible for most deaths in Europe among all cancers. Diagram of a torso showing site of cancer in the lung (the image is illustrative).
