Malta’s breast screening rate for women aged 50 to 69 was the fourth highest in Europe in 2021, according to Eurostat.

Breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer and a leading cause of female mortality in the EU. Prevention is key to lowering the impact of the disease and reducing mortality rates, however, the COVID-19 pandemic had a great impact on preventive healthcare and many screening programs were impacted across EU hospitals and healthcare units. This must be taken into account when analysing data for 2021. 

In 2021, the top three countries with the highest breast cancer screening rates for women aged 50 to 69 years, who had received a mammography within the previous two years, were the Nordic EU countries: Denmark (83.0%), Finland (82.2%) and Sweden (80.0%).

Malta (77.8%) and Slovenia (77.2%) followed closely behind. At the other end of the range, the lowest breast cancer screening rates were registered in Bulgaria (20.6%), Cyprus (24.6%), Slovakia (25.5%), Hungary (29.8%) and Latvia (30.8%).

Compared with 2011, breast cancer screening rates increased in 6 of the 20 EU countries with available data, with the largest increases observed in Malta (+26.9 percentage points), Lithuania (+12.9 pp) and Estonia (+7.7 pp). In 13 EU countries, breast cancer screening rates decreased between 2011 and 2021. Decreases exceeding 10.0 pp were observed in Luxembourg (-16.3 pp), Ireland (-12.1 pp) and Hungary (-10.6 pp). 

In 2021, the highest availability of mammography units (machines designed exclusively for taking mammograms) per 100 000 inhabitants for women aged 50-69 years, was recorded in Greece (7.1 units) and Cyprus (5.9 units). The rate of mammography units was also high in Belgium (3.6), Italy (3.4) and Croatia (3.3). By contrast, the lowest availability was observed in Germany (0.5 units), France (0.7), Romania (0.9), and Poland (1.0), followed by Luxembourg, Czechia and Estonia (all with 1.1 units per 100 000 inhabitants).

The largest increases between 2011 and 2021 in the availability of mammography units per 100 000 inhabitants were recorded in Greece (+1.6 units), Cyprus and Bulgaria (both +1.2). By contrast, the availability of these units decreased in 9 out of the 24 EU countries with data available. The largest decreases were registered in Malta (-1.0), Luxembourg (-0.5), Slovenia, Poland and Denmark (all -0.3 units per 100 000 inhabitants).