In 2016, 76 900 men died from malignant neoplasm of the prostate (prostate cancer) in the European Union (EU). Prostate cancer was the cause of 3% of all male deaths and 10% of all male cancer-related deaths.
The standardised death rate (three-year average 2014 - 2016) from prostate cancer stood at 39 deaths per 100 000 male EU inhabitants. With at least 60 deaths per 100 000 male inhabitants, the highest rates were recorded in:
- two outermost regions of France: Martinique (77; average 2013-2015 data) and Guadeloupe (61; average 2013 - 2015 data),
- Baltic regions: Estonia (74; single region at this level of detail), Latvia (70; single region at this level of detail) and Lithuania (61; only national data available),
- Nordic regions: Mellersta Norrland (71), Norra Mellansverige (65), Östra Mellansverige (64) and Västsverige (62) in Sweden, Hovedstaden (63) in Denmark,
- the Portuguese outermost region Região Autónoma dos Açores (62),
- the eastern half of Slovenia: Vzhodna Slovenija (62) and central region of Slovakia: Stredné Slovensko (60).
The source dataset is accessible here.
In contrast, the lowest standardised death rates from prostate cancer were largely concentrated in southern Europe. The death rate was below 30 per 100 000 male inhabitants in 18 regions of Italy, including Basilicata (which also recorded the lowest rate in the EU), five regions in Greece, four regions in Spain, three regions in France, two regions in Romania, and one region in Bulgaria and Malta (a single region at this level of detail).
Note: To make a sound comparison across regions, the numbers of prostate cancer deaths need to be adjusted to the size and structure of the population. Standardised death rates are more reliable when making comparisons between diseases as they remove the impact of different age structures.
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