Globally it was estimated that nearly 1.3 million new prostate cancer cases were diagnosed in 2018 with an average age-standardised incidence 29 per 100,000 men (Culp et al. 2020). The number of deaths from prostate cancer was 359,000 and mortality rate of 7.6 per 100,000 men.
Finland has very high incidence rates, as other Northern European countries, and mortality is also above the global average. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in Finland in men and also overall, with approximately 5000 new cases in 2018 (Finnish Cancer Registry). In numbers of cancer deaths, it ranks second with >900 deaths in 2018 after lung cancer in men, and fourth overall. Overall, prognosis of prostate cancer if favorable in Finland, with a relative survival ratio exceeding 90% at five years.
Prostate cancer incidence increased remarkably in the 1990s due to wide-spread PSA-testing, but has decreased slightly after 2004. Much smaller increase in prostate cancer mortality was observed until about 2000, with a subsequent decline.