Since 1999, BCR has been registering reliable data on cancer diagnoses for Flanders, and for the whole of Belgium since 2004. This registration is an important source of information for various stakeholders (such as the various Belgian governments and public health authorities, national and international scientific associations, universities, all health and cancer associations, the press, the private sector, etc.) and forms the basis for numerous research purposes, including the evaluation of initiatives regarding primary prevention, early detection and screening, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of cancer.
In 2022, 76,220 Belgians received a new cancer diagnosis, including 41,774 males and 34,446 females. Remarkably, 64% of diagnoses were made in patients aged 65 or older.
In the top three most common cancers, prostate cancer ranked first among males with 12,699 diagnoses, and breast cancer among females with 11,192 diagnoses. Lung cancer and colon cancer ranked second and third in both males and females. A total of 9,410 diagnoses of lung cancer and 7,705 diagnoses of colon cancer were made in both males and females 2022.
More information on these new data for the incidence year 2022, including age-standardised incidence, distribution by stage and survival, can be found in several locations on our website:
- The latest data have been added to our Drawing Module, where you can generate your own graphs and tables.
- Via Publications, you can download the new Cancer Fact Sheets by organ and their appendix.
- Through ‘Data request’, detailed data can be made available for specific in-depth research.
Finally, the incidence estimates for 2023 are now also available for a limited number of cancer types. These data are also accessible via our Drawing Module.
We sincerely thank all the stakeholders for ensuring the accuracy and timeliness of this work.
