Malta has one of the best breast cancer survival rates in Europe.
EUROCARE-6 and OECD Health at a Glance data place Malta in the upper tier of European 5-year net breast-cancer survival, in the same band as the Nordics, Switzerland and several leading Western European countries. Malta's age-standardised 5-year net survival sits at approximately 88-90% — among the best in Europe. Abela's framing 'one of the best' is a conservative reading of the data.
EUROCARE-6 and OECD Health at a Glance data place Malta in the upper tier of European 5-year net breast-cancer survival, in the same band as the Nordics, Switzerland and several leading Western European countries. Malta's age-standardised 5-year net survival sits at approximately 88-90% — among the best in Europe. Abela's framing 'one of the best' is a conservative reading of the data.
We tested Abela's claim against EUROCARE-6, OECD Health at a Glance: Europe 2024, the European Cancer Information System, the Maltese National Cancer Registry, and IARC GLOBOCAN. The methodological question is where Malta ranks on EU-comparable 5-year net breast-cancer survival, the standard metric for this kind of cross-country claim.
Verdict lands at True because Malta's age-standardised 5-year net survival sits at approximately 88-90%, placing it in the EU top tier alongside Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Switzerland and Belgium and well above the EU average of 82-83%. The deep-dive lays out the country-by-country ranking, the data-lag caveat (cohorts diagnosed 2010-2014), and why 'one of the best' is actually a conservative read of the evidence; this editorial note is methodology only.
Does Malta really have one of the best breast cancer survival rates in Europe
The standard EU-comparable measure of cancer outcomes is 5-year net survival from EUROCARE — the European cancer-registry-based study published by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità — alongside OECD Health at a Glance: Europe, which republishes the same data with complementary indicators. On both, Malta sits in the European top tier for breast-cancer survival.
Where Malta sits on 5-year net breast-cancer survival
Malta's age-standardised 5-year net survival for women diagnosed with breast cancer sits at approximately 88-90% on the most recent published data — directly comparable to Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Switzerland and Belgium. The EU average sits around 82-83%, with the lowest member states (Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Lithuania) in the 70s.
Malta is in the same band as Sweden, Iceland, Finland and Switzerland — the EU top tier on breast-cancer outcomes. The 'one of the best' framing is comfortable on the data.
One important caveat — the data lag
EUROCARE and OECD cancer-survival data run on a 5-10 year lag because they require following diagnosed cohorts through to 5-year survival endpoints. The latest publications (EUROCARE-6, OECD Health at a Glance: Europe 2024) report cohorts diagnosed approximately 2010-2014, followed through 2019, with subsequent annual updates.
This means Malta's strong position reflects the screening, diagnostic and treatment infrastructure in place in the late 2010s — not whatever was added in the most recent year or two. Improvements in the most recent years would only show up in survival data 5-10 years from now. The corollary is that Malta's current top-tier ranking is durable: it would take a major regression in screening or treatment infrastructure to drop Malta out of the top band within the next publication cycle.
So is the claim accurate?
Yes. On EUROCARE-6, OECD Health at a Glance: Europe, and the European Cancer Information System data, Malta sits in the EU top tier for breast-cancer 5-year net survival — comparable to Sweden, Iceland, Finland and Switzerland, and ahead of the EU average by 5-7 percentage points. 'One of the best' is a conservative reading of the published evidence.
Verdict: True.