One in every four deaths in Malta was caused by cancer in 2011, according to the latest statistics published by Eurostat.
When considering the five prevailing types of fatal cancers registered, deaths only increased in the case of breast cancer when compared with the previous 10 years.
On the other hand, although the figures remain high, deaths caused by lung, colorectal, pancreatic and prostate cancers dropped when compared to 2002.
Eurostat said 875, or 26.4 per cent, of all deaths in Malta in 2011 were caused by cancer. This is comparable to the EU average.
Most of those who succumbed to cancer in 2011 – 628 people – were over 65 years old.
Lung cancer was by far the deadliest cancer in 2011, affecting almost 18.1 per cent of all those who died of cancer. This was followed by colorectal cancer (12.6 per cent), breast (9.7 per cent), pancreatic (7.3 per cent) and prostate (four per cent).
Compared with the EU average, Malta still has a high rate of breast cancer. While, in 2011, breast cancer amounted to 7.2 per cent of all deadly cancers in the EU, the rate in Malta was more than two percentage points higher, at 9.7 per cent. On an EU level, cancer killed 1.3 million people in 2011.
Although, during the previous decade, the total number of deaths decreased slightly, by 0.5 per cent, the number of cancer victims increased by 6.3 per cent.
Deaths due to cancer remained higher in 2011 among men (718,000 deaths) than women (563,000 deaths).
The Netherlands had the highest number of cancer deaths in the EU in 2011, amounting to almost 32 per cent. Slovenia (31.3 per cent) and Ireland (30.5 percent) followed. On the other hand, Bulgaria – with just 15.6 per cent – had the lowest cancer-related deaths in the EU. As in Malta, lung cancer was by far the most prevalent cancer leading to death in 2011, with the exception of Portugal, where the main culprit was colorectal cancer.
The highest proportion of lung cancer was registered in Hungary (26.1 per cent), followed by the Netherlands (24.6 per cent) and Belgium (24.5 per cent).