This is more about diagnosis, in my opinion. In the Balkans, we only go to the doctor when we’re close to dying.
Remember people, any cancer rate map is a map of cancer rate diagnosis, not actual prevalence.
North Europe gets less sun and therefore some people use solariums/sunbeds to tan, which are known to cause skin cancer when overused. Additionally, people dont use sunscreen as often as they should.
What’s up with Slovenia?
It’s sad that we have more data than ever before, but people resist doing the obvious. Distrusting the experts.
Instead, there are influencers that promote eating carrots instead of using sun screen.
Looks like darker skin more evolved for survival
Ireland can’t be right. We’d actually need some sun for such high skin cancer rates.
Will never not surprise me how much the Nordics/Dutch/British/Irish are apparently allergic to fucking sun cream every time they come to the south. I’m as pale as you all and you will not catch me leaving my house without wearing sun cream from May all the way to September
Northern regions, predominantly. We’re just not built for long spells of sun exposure. I literally had this conversation yesterday with my Spanish friend, if I move to Spain, the chance of me getting skin cancer is almost 10fold.
No testing , no cancer, that is the moto in Eastern Europe.
My hypothesis is that the more north you go, the cooler it feels and hence less people wear suncream. As a result, paradoxically, there are more cases of skin cancer in the cooler climes. Maybe?
It is very interesting living in the UK being a New Zealander. In the Southern hemisphere the sun is absolutely brutal for burns, so most people have it drilled in to them that you have to take preventative measures. I don’t think I’ve met a single person in the UK who even knows what a UV index is!
I’m a bit passionate about this topic as it is one of the biggest reasons why I moved, I’m still aware of it here, but you don’t need to worry about it for half the year like you do back home
Yeah that tracks, Swiss people always run out into the sun like they’re crazy whenever it’s out.
Hence the reason why the Danish health department recommend factor 30 or higher sunscreen on skin areas exposed to the sun.
Wear a hat and skip the solarium.
The oldies used to put sunflower oil to get more tan.
Well, some correlation with distance from the equator. Which may correlate with sun exposure and vitamin D. Vit. D negatively correlates with cancer.
Lots of casual chauvinism in the thread. I am a pathologist. I have lived in Ukraine and Switzerland (+ I communicate a lot with Russians, Belarusians, Germans, Portuguese). I can say that medicine in these countries is on the same level, except for the most expensive technologies as treatment of multiple sclerosis. As a doctor I can confidently say that the level of therapists in post-Soviet countries is **higher** than in European countries, and the level of surgeons is **lower** than in European countries. Diagnostics is at the same level. Accessibility of medicine is much higher (no 3-4 month waiting lists), particularly biopsies are processed MUCH faster.
We’re so deprived of sunlight in Scotland that vitamin d deficiency is 100 real , there a saying in Glasgow “ when it hits 18 degrees it’s “ taps aff!” Weather ( translation 😛 males go topless) just so we can expose that transparent blue trunk of flesh we have to something that resembles white !! depending your genetic predisposition things like osteoporosis, bone disorders , heart disease numbers and skin cancers all increase. Your not brought up WITH the sun so, you don’t know how to handle it loads of people use sun beds here too which are just cancer coffins!
I don’t even know how we can have skin cancer prevalence in France since it’s nearly impossible to have a appointment with a dermatologist.
This is more of diagnosis thing not “prevalence”. Fuck this clickbaiting.
It’s hard for me to believe that Poland is so much better than e.g. Czech Republic, given very similar climates.
One contributory factor is possibly that those of us who live in hotter climates, like the Mediterranean, know to, basically, stay out of the sun when it is at its hottest.
* Don’t go out in the sun
* If you do, cover up and stay in the shade as much as possible.
* If you’re going to get exposed wear sunscreen with a minimum of F50.
* And HYDRATE! Not exactly and cancer preventative, but definitely related.
People say this is a sun exposure or diagnosis thing but that wouldn’t explain the large difference between the Netherlands and Belgium. Two similar countries, similar populations and similar quality of healthcare.
Light skinned people that take off their clothes as soon as there’s a ray of sun get more skin cancer.
I imagine a person smoking in a solarium built from asbestos. Cancer all around, but can’t hurt the profits (well, except for asbestos).
I would tell that in south-east countries, sunbathing is not so popular like in there NW-countries.
This might as well be a countries with the best healthcare map.
I’d argue a problem with this map (and any statistics on skin cancer) is the delay of effect. As a Swede, we regularly see dermathologists explaining this and the importance of using sun screen all the time, because damage done in your 20s can severly accelerate the rates of skin cancer in your 60’s or 70’s.
They also argue younger people are better at using it, but the rates still continue to rise due to the delayed cancer brought upon people sunbathing in the sweet 70’s and 80’s. So hopefully our rates will drop, but our low melanin concentrations mixed with the difficulty for people to notice cause and effect over such long time spans definitely works against us.
One thing to note, however, is that due to our fair complexion we usually notice the melanoma whilst it’s still treatable. Apparantly it’s easier for us to look for skin cancer symptoms than just … you know, use sun screen…
WTF are we doing???
Southern FR here : every summer we see a lot of Dutch on vacation get burnt to a crisp, their skin isn’t trained for that intense sunlight which is almost as strong as northern Africa’s here some years
They’re definitely not using enough sunscreen or too weak products, or they should wear long sleeved clothes and pants and hats
Especially since they love kayaking and canyoning, where they’re exposed to water refraction, which means being cooked from all sides
It’s very dangerous, fr fr
Why is Portugal so much better than the rest of southern Europe? Because, quoting a very sexist man who said something very wise we “put the cream on”
Sunscreen is a number one priority on a hot day especially on a beach day
The Scandinavian countries, the UK and Ireland probably have a high rate of skin cancer because a lot of people don’t realise you can still be sunburnt and get hit with UV rays on cloudy and overcast days.
That’s a 6 year old study though. And yes, Dutch people are well known for immediately going to beaches when the sun is out.
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What is going on in Scandinavia?
This is more about diagnosis, in my opinion. In the Balkans, we only go to the doctor when we’re close to dying.
Remember people, any cancer rate map is a map of cancer rate diagnosis, not actual prevalence.
North Europe gets less sun and therefore some people use solariums/sunbeds to tan, which are known to cause skin cancer when overused. Additionally, people dont use sunscreen as often as they should.
What’s up with Slovenia?
It’s sad that we have more data than ever before, but people resist doing the obvious. Distrusting the experts.
Instead, there are influencers that promote eating carrots instead of using sun screen.
Looks like darker skin more evolved for survival
Ireland can’t be right. We’d actually need some sun for such high skin cancer rates.
Will never not surprise me how much the Nordics/Dutch/British/Irish are apparently allergic to fucking sun cream every time they come to the south. I’m as pale as you all and you will not catch me leaving my house without wearing sun cream from May all the way to September
Northern regions, predominantly. We’re just not built for long spells of sun exposure. I literally had this conversation yesterday with my Spanish friend, if I move to Spain, the chance of me getting skin cancer is almost 10fold.
No testing , no cancer, that is the moto in Eastern Europe.
My hypothesis is that the more north you go, the cooler it feels and hence less people wear suncream. As a result, paradoxically, there are more cases of skin cancer in the cooler climes. Maybe?
It is very interesting living in the UK being a New Zealander. In the Southern hemisphere the sun is absolutely brutal for burns, so most people have it drilled in to them that you have to take preventative measures. I don’t think I’ve met a single person in the UK who even knows what a UV index is!
I’m a bit passionate about this topic as it is one of the biggest reasons why I moved, I’m still aware of it here, but you don’t need to worry about it for half the year like you do back home
Yeah that tracks, Swiss people always run out into the sun like they’re crazy whenever it’s out.
Hence the reason why the Danish health department recommend factor 30 or higher sunscreen on skin areas exposed to the sun.
Wear a hat and skip the solarium.
https://www.sst.dk/da/nyheder/2025/Nye-anbefalinger-om-solbeskyttelse-Brug-altid-mindst-faktor-30-og-drop-solariet
The oldies used to put sunflower oil to get more tan.
Well, some correlation with distance from the equator. Which may correlate with sun exposure and vitamin D. Vit. D negatively correlates with cancer.
Lots of casual chauvinism in the thread. I am a pathologist. I have lived in Ukraine and Switzerland (+ I communicate a lot with Russians, Belarusians, Germans, Portuguese). I can say that medicine in these countries is on the same level, except for the most expensive technologies as treatment of multiple sclerosis. As a doctor I can confidently say that the level of therapists in post-Soviet countries is **higher** than in European countries, and the level of surgeons is **lower** than in European countries. Diagnostics is at the same level. Accessibility of medicine is much higher (no 3-4 month waiting lists), particularly biopsies are processed MUCH faster.
We’re so deprived of sunlight in Scotland that vitamin d deficiency is 100 real , there a saying in Glasgow “ when it hits 18 degrees it’s “ taps aff!” Weather ( translation 😛 males go topless) just so we can expose that transparent blue trunk of flesh we have to something that resembles white !! depending your genetic predisposition things like osteoporosis, bone disorders , heart disease numbers and skin cancers all increase. Your not brought up WITH the sun so, you don’t know how to handle it loads of people use sun beds here too which are just cancer coffins!
I don’t even know how we can have skin cancer prevalence in France since it’s nearly impossible to have a appointment with a dermatologist.
This is more of diagnosis thing not “prevalence”. Fuck this clickbaiting.
It’s hard for me to believe that Poland is so much better than e.g. Czech Republic, given very similar climates.
One contributory factor is possibly that those of us who live in hotter climates, like the Mediterranean, know to, basically, stay out of the sun when it is at its hottest.
* Don’t go out in the sun
* If you do, cover up and stay in the shade as much as possible.
* If you’re going to get exposed wear sunscreen with a minimum of F50.
* And HYDRATE! Not exactly and cancer preventative, but definitely related.
People say this is a sun exposure or diagnosis thing but that wouldn’t explain the large difference between the Netherlands and Belgium. Two similar countries, similar populations and similar quality of healthcare.
Light skinned people that take off their clothes as soon as there’s a ray of sun get more skin cancer.
I imagine a person smoking in a solarium built from asbestos. Cancer all around, but can’t hurt the profits (well, except for asbestos).
I would tell that in south-east countries, sunbathing is not so popular like in there NW-countries.
This might as well be a countries with the best healthcare map.
I’d argue a problem with this map (and any statistics on skin cancer) is the delay of effect. As a Swede, we regularly see dermathologists explaining this and the importance of using sun screen all the time, because damage done in your 20s can severly accelerate the rates of skin cancer in your 60’s or 70’s.
They also argue younger people are better at using it, but the rates still continue to rise due to the delayed cancer brought upon people sunbathing in the sweet 70’s and 80’s. So hopefully our rates will drop, but our low melanin concentrations mixed with the difficulty for people to notice cause and effect over such long time spans definitely works against us.
One thing to note, however, is that due to our fair complexion we usually notice the melanoma whilst it’s still treatable. Apparantly it’s easier for us to look for skin cancer symptoms than just … you know, use sun screen…
WTF are we doing???
Southern FR here : every summer we see a lot of Dutch on vacation get burnt to a crisp, their skin isn’t trained for that intense sunlight which is almost as strong as northern Africa’s here some years
They’re definitely not using enough sunscreen or too weak products, or they should wear long sleeved clothes and pants and hats
Especially since they love kayaking and canyoning, where they’re exposed to water refraction, which means being cooked from all sides
It’s very dangerous, fr fr
Why is Portugal so much better than the rest of southern Europe? Because, quoting a very sexist man who said something very wise we “put the cream on”
Sunscreen is a number one priority on a hot day especially on a beach day
The Scandinavian countries, the UK and Ireland probably have a high rate of skin cancer because a lot of people don’t realise you can still be sunburnt and get hit with UV rays on cloudy and overcast days.
That’s a 6 year old study though. And yes, Dutch people are well known for immediately going to beaches when the sun is out.
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