Malta and Cyprus had the highest shares of deaths due to breast cancer among women from among EU states in 2013
A Eurostat report on fatal cancers in the EU in 2013 showed that the rate of deaths from breast cancer among women in both Malta and Cyprus was 21 per cent of all deaths due to cancer for women in both countries.
Breast cancer accounted for 16 per cent of all deaths due to cancer among women (92,600).
Prostate cancer, which does not affect women, caused 10 per cent of all male deaths from cancer in the EU (72,700 deaths). At eight per cent, Malta, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland and Slovakia reported the lowest percentage of deaths from this cancer.
Cancer was the cause of death for almost 1.3 million people in the EU in 2013, responsible for 26 per cent of all deaths.
Men (726,500 deaths due to cancer) were more affected than women (570,300).
Fatal cancer represented 37 per cent of all deaths for the EU population under 65 years and 23 per cent for those aged 65 and over.
Leading to the death of nearly 270,000 persons (or 21 per cent of all deaths due to cancer), lung cancer was the main type of fatal cancer in the EU in 2013, followed by colorectal cancer (153,100 or 12 per cent), breast cancer (92,600 or 16 per cent for the female population only), pancreas cancer (81,300 or six per cent) and prostate cancer
In all EU states, cancers killed more men than women, with the highest gender gaps being observed in Greece and Spain.
In all member states, the most prevalent cancer leading to death in 2013 was lung cancer.
Globally, men and women were equally affected by colorectal cancer, which for both represented 12 per cent of all fatal cancer. The same applied for pancreas cancer, which accounted for six per cent of all deaths due to cancer among the male population and for seven per cent among the female population.
The report states that 337,100 persons in the EU aged under 65 died from cancer in 2013. This meant that cancers represented 37 per cent of all causes of death in this age group. In the over 65 population, 23 per cent or 959,800 persons died from cancer.