Juliette Gagliardi
Junior Researcher
Cancer in Italy - Statistics & Facts
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in Italy, and every day hundreds of people receive a new diagnosis of cancer in the country. The most frequent type of cancer among men is prostate cancer, with more than 41 thousand new cases in 2023, followed by lung and colorectal cancer. While for women, the most common type of cancer is breast cancer, with almost 56 thousand cases in 2023, followed by colorectal and lung cancer. Lombardy is the most populous region in Italy as well as the region with the highest number of new cancer cases for both genders. Screening for cancer, especially among older adults, is vital in detecting cancer before it spreads. However, the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to a decrease in cancer screenings in Italy. For example, between January and May, breast cancer screenings decreased by almost 54 percent in 2020 in respect of the previous year.
Care and treatments
The consumption of cancer drugs has grown across the country in recent years, reaching 10.9 daily doses per 1,000 inhabitants per day in 2022. The use of antineoplastic drugs, also known as chemotherapy drugs, has followed a similar trend. Indeed, consumption reached 18.7 daily doses per 1,000 inhabitants per day in 2022. In this period, the expenditure on monoclonal antibodies in Italy reached 1,824 million euros, the highest among all other oncology drugs. Umbria, followed by Marche and Campagna, was the Italian region with the highest per capita expenditure on cancer drugs.Risk factors and mortality
Lifestyle choices, and other elements that are not necessarily under the control of the individual, contribute to the risk of getting cancer. Smoking, alcohol consumption, and obesity are among these. In 2019, the number of deaths from cancer attributable to smoking was almost 43.5 thousand. Human papillomavirus infection is also a relevant risk factor, and cervical cancer is the type of cancer with the highest incidence rate of HPV-related cancers in Italy in 2020.
