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Screening in Norway
Norway runs its screening from the Cancer Registry: mammography from 50, HPV testing from 25, and a bowel programme that invites everyone in the year they turn 55.
This page describes screening programmes; it is not a diagnosis, not a personal risk assessment and not a substitute for your own health service. Age bands are set nationally and change — the invitation you receive, and the body named on your country page, outrank anything written here. Screening is for people without symptoms: a new lump, blood you can see, a mole that has changed, unexplained weight loss or a sudden change in vision or hearing needs a clinician now, whatever a recent screening result said.
The programmes
| Programme | Who | Age band and interval | Test | How it reaches you |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breast cancer screening (mammography) | Women | 50–69, every 2 years | Mammography | Invitation |
| Cervical screening (HPV test) | Women | 25–69, every 5 years | HPV test, since 1 July 2023 | Invitation |
| Bowel cancer screening (stool test) | Everyone | at 55, once | Stool test, invited in the year you turn 55 | Invitation |
One registry, three programmes
Norway centralises something most countries scatter. The Cancer Registry of Norway both runs the invitation systems and measures the results, so the same organisation that posts your letter publishes how many cancers the programme found, how many were missed between rounds, and how many women were called back for nothing. That closed loop is why Norwegian screening figures are quoted so often in the international literature.
Mammografiprogrammet
Women aged 50 to 69 are invited to mammography every second year. Two images of each breast, read independently by two radiologists, with a third opinion where they disagree — double reading is standard in the Nordic programmes and it is one of the reasons European recall rates are lower than American ones. A call-back means the readers want another look, most often with additional views or ultrasound, and the great majority of women called back do not have cancer.
Livmorhalsprogrammet after July 2023
From 1 July 2023 the cervical programme moved to HPV testing for the whole age range, 25 to 69, at a five-year interval. Before that, women in their late twenties and early thirties had a cell sample every three years. The change is the same one happening across the region: test for the virus that causes almost all cervical cancer instead of looking for the cell changes it has already caused, and you can safely wait longer between tests.
Tarmscreeningprogrammet
The bowel programme began in 2022 and works differently from the others: rather than covering a band of ages from the start, it invites everyone in the year they turn 55, and builds up cohort by cohort as the years pass. The test is a stool sample done at home. A positive result leads to colonoscopy, which is where the actual polyp removal — the part that prevents future cancers rather than just finding present ones — happens.
Age by age
The same table again, turned around: every age at which something falls due, so you can find your own and read across. This is rendered on the server, so it works whether or not the calculator below does.
Women: the age ladder
| Age | What is due |
|---|---|
| 25 | Cervical screening (HPV test) — HPV test, since 1 July 2023 |
| 30 | Cervical screening (HPV test) — HPV test, since 1 July 2023 |
| 35 | Cervical screening (HPV test) — HPV test, since 1 July 2023 |
| 40 | Cervical screening (HPV test) — HPV test, since 1 July 2023 |
| 45 | Cervical screening (HPV test) — HPV test, since 1 July 2023 |
| 50 | Breast cancer screening (mammography) — Mammography; Cervical screening (HPV test) — HPV test, since 1 July 2023 |
| 52 | Breast cancer screening (mammography) — Mammography |
| 54 | Breast cancer screening (mammography) — Mammography |
| 55 | Cervical screening (HPV test) — HPV test, since 1 July 2023; Bowel cancer screening (stool test) — Stool test, invited in the year you turn 55 |
| 56 | Breast cancer screening (mammography) — Mammography |
| 58 | Breast cancer screening (mammography) — Mammography |
| 60 | Breast cancer screening (mammography) — Mammography; Cervical screening (HPV test) — HPV test, since 1 July 2023 |
| 62 | Breast cancer screening (mammography) — Mammography |
| 64 | Breast cancer screening (mammography) — Mammography |
| 65 | Cervical screening (HPV test) — HPV test, since 1 July 2023 |
| 66 | Breast cancer screening (mammography) — Mammography |
| 68 | Breast cancer screening (mammography) — Mammography |
Men: the age ladder
| Age | What is due |
|---|---|
| 55 | Bowel cancer screening (stool test) — Stool test, invited in the year you turn 55 |
Where an interval is set regionally, only the age the band opens is listed — the country’s own body publishes the repeat interval. Ages are the age you reach in the calendar year, because target groups across the region are built from birth years rather than birth dates.
Work out your own years
Your own timeline
Enter a birth year and the table below fills in with every invitation that country expects to send you, and the calendar year each one is due. Nothing is sent anywhere — the whole calculation happens in this page.
JavaScript is off, so the timeline is not calculated here. The age ladders on each country page below are the same information rendered on the server — find your age and read across.
The calendar file contains one all-day reminder per invitation, in the month you were born, for the years still ahead. It is a prompt to expect a letter, not the letter itself.
Sources: Helsedirektoratet — screening programmes for cancer · Cancer Registry of Norway — bowel screening programme · Cancer Registry of Norway — mammography programme · Cancer Registry of Norway — cervical screening programme · checked 2026-09-07
Korduma kippuvad küsimused
Who is invited to mammography in Norway?
Women aged 50 to 69, every second year, through Mammografiprogrammet. Images are read independently by two radiologists, with a third reader where they disagree.
What changed in Norwegian cervical screening in 2023?
From 1 July 2023 the whole programme, ages 25 to 69, moved to HPV testing every five years. Younger women previously had a cell sample every three years.
At what age does bowel screening start in Norway?
At 55. The Tarmscreeningprogrammet invites everyone in the year they turn 55 and has been building up cohort by cohort since 2022. The test is a stool sample taken at home.
Who runs screening in Norway?
The Cancer Registry of Norway runs all three national cancer screening programmes and publishes their results, which is why Norwegian programme statistics are widely cited.
The tests you will be invited to
Breast cancer screening (mammography)
An X-ray of each breast, read by two radiologists, repeated every two years across a band of ages that starts at 40 in Sweden and 50 almost everywhere else. What it finds, what it misses and what a call-back means.
Cervical screening (HPV test)
Almost every country in the region has switched from looking for abnormal cells to looking for the virus that causes them. The test is better, so the gap between tests is longer — and in several countries you can now take the sample yourself.
Bowel cancer screening (stool test)
A sample from one bowel movement, taken at home and posted. It is the only screening programme in the region that routinely prevents cancers rather than only finding them early — because the follow-up removes the polyp.
The other countries
Age bands differ across the region by up to a decade for the same programme, so a comparison is genuinely useful — particularly if you have moved, or if family live elsewhere.
Estonia · Finland · Latvia · Lithuania · Sweden · Denmark
The whole regional tableHow invitations work
Between the letters, keep your own record
A screening invitation arrives every few years. TempoLife keeps the rest — weight, blood pressure, sleep and the notes you want to find again — so the next appointment starts with facts rather than guesses.