Nicosia, Cyprus. Childhood cancer incidence in Cyprus was estimated at 15 cases per 100,000 children in 2022, above the EU average of 13.7 cases per 100,000, according to the Cyprus 2025 Cancer Country Profile.
Estimated 2022 figures
The profile, prepared by the OECD and the European Commission, estimated that 22 children aged up to 14 were diagnosed with cancer in Cyprus in 2022.
The figures are estimates based on available cancer registry information and previous trends, rather than confirmed final case numbers for that year.
Leukaemia accounted for about 36 per cent of childhood cancer cases, followed by brain and central nervous system tumours at 27 per cent and lymphomas at 19 per cent.
Childhood cancer mortality was estimated at 2.3 deaths per 100,000 children, compared with the EU average of 2.1 deaths per 100,000.
Registry findings
A population-based study using the childhood cancer registry and covering cases from 1998 to 2017 previously placed Cyprus among countries with the highest reported childhood and adolescent cancer incidence rates internationally, Politis reported.
The study estimated an age-standardised incidence rate of 203.5 cases per million among children and adolescents aged up to 19.
It found no statistically significant overall increase during the period examined, but identified a significant rise in thyroid cancer, particularly among girls and adolescents aged 15 to 19.
Recent trends
Professor Constantinos Makris, director of the public health institute at the University of Technology (Tepak), told Politis that recent data from the International Agency for Research on Cancer indicated an increase in new childhood cancer cases over the past decade.
