OBJECTIVES: Organized nationwide screening programme for cervical cancer was introduced in Hungary in 2003. The aim of this study is to analyze the three year screening rate (coverage) of the organized cervical cancer screening programme in women aged over 64 years. Although women over 64 years are out of the scope of the organized screening programme, but opportunistic screening may be applied. METHODS: The data derive from the financial database of the National Health Insurance Fund Administration (OEP) of Hungary covering the period of 2000-2002 (without organized screening) and 2003-2005 (with organized screening). We calculated the three-year screening rate for 2003-2005 according to the age-group of women over 64 years. Screening is defined with cytological examination of Papanicolau smear and includes all smears taken either within or outside of the organized programme. RESULTS: The 3-year screening rate of women aged 25-64 years was 52.65% in 2003-2005. The coverage of women over 64 years was the following in 2003-2005: 65-69 years: 22.26 %; 70-74 years: 14.73%; 75-79 years: 10.69%; over 80 years: 5.63%. Comparing this values to the coverage of 2000-2002 (without organized screening) we found controversary changes in the different age-groups: 65-69 years: 1.22 percentpoint increase, 70-74 years: -0.4 percenpoint decrease; 75-79 years: - 0.22 percentpoint decrease; over 80 years: 0.53 percenpoint increase. CONCLUSION: After the introduction of organized cervical screening programme for women aged 25-64, we found controversary effect (both increase and decrease) on the coverage of women aged over 64. The effect of organized screening programme on the coverage of women out of the scope of this programme was not significant.