New Cancer Dashboard for Croatia

How does Croatia perform in cancer care compared to national targets, EU peers, and international benchmarks? This dashboard-style report provides a visual and quantitative description of selected performance indicators in all areas of cancer care. The analysis is based on both national and international databases.

Croatia faces an exceptionally high cancer burden, with the second-highest incidence and the highest mortality rate in the EU. Prevention remains a major challenge, with comparatively high smoking rates, below-average HPV vaccination coverage, and rising levels of overweight and obesity. Screening performance is mixed: Croatia is a European frontrunner in lung cancer screening, being the first EU country to implement a national program. At the same time, participation in breast and colorectal screening programs remains below national targets, and cervical screening is still opportunistic.

Recent expansion in radiation therapy capacity has been positive, but gaps remain, such as limited diagnostic imaging availability, health workforce shortages, and low uptake of innovative cancer medicines. Palliative care capacity has expanded but remains below European targets.

The report was launched at the 19th Croatian Oncology Congress (HOK2026) in Rovinj, Croatia.

For more information please contact Thomas Hofmarcher

Cancer Dashboard for Croatia, IHE 2026, Lund, Sweden

Cite: Malmberg C, Hofmarcher T. Cancer Dashboard for Croatia, IHE 2026, Lund, Sweden.