INTRODUCTION: Though lung cancer, and the most common subtype, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), occur frequently, there are limited data quantifying the economic burden of these cancers in Europe.    OBJECTIVES: To describe the burden of NSCLC in three European countries using patient-level data from commercially available healthcare data. METHODS: Patient-level data were obtained for France from the PMSI (French National discharge database; containing data from publicly-funded hospitals) from 2008 to 2011 while excluding patients with a prior-hospitalization for lung cancer in the preceding 24-month period (2006-2007). As NSCLC does not have a separate ICD-10 code, expert opinion was used to eliminate patients diagnosed with non-NSCLC, based on particular procedures and tests. Hospital resource use was valued using French DRG tariffs.  Chemotherapy regimens were valued using official rates. RESULTS: 61,144 patients were identified with lung cancer in 2008. 19,099 were excluded because of prior lung cancer diagnoses. Of this cohort of 42,043 patients, 25,054 were exclusively treated in the public setting; 15,061 were identified as NSCLC and were considered in this analysis. Hospital-related costs cumulated over the follow-up period were estimated at €337,382m, with chemotherapy costs representing 9%. Mean cumulated hospital-related cost per-patient were estimated at €22,401 over the follow-up period. Terminal care represented a mean per-patient cost of €10,440. Adverse events triggering hospital-expenses represented a mean per-patient cost of €5,694. Patients ≤ 55 years incurred higher costs per-person over the follow-up period than patients >55 years; €25,386 vs. €21,368. These extra costs were mostly driven by chemotherapy costs(€13,287 vs. €10,561). Patient with metastases incurred higher costs over the follow-up period than patients without these, €23,118 vs. €21,934. CONCLUSIONS: This is one of the first analyses quantifying the economic burden of NSCLC. The burden for France is substantial. Subsequent analyses will allow for comparisons of this burden across other countries.