Between 2013 and 2022, 37 022 cases of occupational cancers were officially recognised in the EU.
Occupational cancer is the term given to cancers caused by exposure to carcinogenic factors in the working environment, generally due to long-term exposure. Many of these cases emerge several years after initial exposure, even after 40 years.
Figures for 2020 (3 094 cases per year), 2021 (3 258) and 2022 (3 309) were lower than the 2013-2019 annual average (3 909 cases per year), possibly due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare systems.
Source dataset: hsw_occ_cnr
This information comes from data on occupational diseases published by Eurostat today. The article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article occupational cancers.
A closer look at data from 2013 to 2022 reveals that the most common types of occupational cancers were lung cancer with 15 272 cases, and mesothelioma with 14 914 cases (a type of cancer connected to asbestos exposure, which develops in the thin layer of tissue that covers many of the internal organs, known as the mesothelium). These 2 types of cancers combined add up to 81.5% of all newly reported occupational cancer cases during this period. These were followed by 2 559 cases of bladder cancer.
Source dataset: hsw_occ_cnr
The European Occupational Diseases Statistics (EODS) are part of Eurostat’s experimental statistics.
Source: Eurostat, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/product?code=ddn-20250324-1
