The highest recorded incidence of cervical cancer in Cancer Registry o Republic of Slovenia was 27 cases per 100,000 inhabitants (world standard) in the early 1960s, making Slovenia one of the countries with a historically high burden of this cancer. The incidence initially decreased due to opportunistic screening, which – similarly to Eastern European countries – stopped yielding results in the early 1990s, as the incidence began to increase. In 1998, a pilot organized screening programme was introduced, first in central Slovenia, and later in two more regions. In 2003, the organised population-based cervical cancer screening programme and registry ZORA was implemented, reducing the incidence of cervical cancer in Slovenia to its historically lowest values, which are comparable to European countries with the lowest burden of this cancer. In the recent years in Slovenia, approximately 100‒120 women are diagnosed and 40‒50 women die every year because of cervical cancer. With an age-standardized incidence rate (world standard) of about 7/100.000 and mortality rate of about 2/100.000 women, Slovenia is one of the European countries with the lowest cervical cancer burden.

In 2017, Slovenia observed a record low in cervical cancer incidence with only 86 new cases of cervical cancer and age-standardised incidence rate (world standard) 4.9/100,000. A few years later, in 2020, however, we observed a spike with 133 new cases (age-standardised incidence rate (world standard) 8.2/100,000). This is not unexpected due to small yearly number of new cervical cancer cases and the decreasing trend in the recent years with 94 new cases in 2022 indicates that Slovenia is, similarly to other countries with well-organised screening programmes, following a path outlined in the spring of 2018 by the World Health Organization, the path to cervical cancer elimination.

Cervical cancer data was obtained from the Cancer Registry of Slovenia, which is a dynamic database with possible changes in the number of new cases. Number of new cases is regularly updated in case of major changes via the ZORA website (zora.onko-i.si). More information on cervical cancer and CIN3 can be found on the website SLORA (www.slora.si), with unlimited acces to information on cancer in Slovenia and worldwide. 

Jerman T, Ivanuš U, Florjančič M. ZORA Programme Monitoring and Evaluation. ZORA: Slovenian National Cervical Cancer Screening Programme and Registry. 2024. https://zora.onko-i.si/en/monitoring-and-evaluation/.