Trends in mortality rates from colorectal cancer during the second half of the 20th century were analysed for 21 European countries and grouped in three broad European regions. For each gender, age-standardised (world standard population) mortality rates were computed by the direct method, and joinpoint analysis was used to identify significant changes in rates. A favourable pattern in colorectal cancer mortality for both genders was observed in most European countries from the 1990s onwards. Colorectal cancer mortality rates were still in the upward direction in some Eastern European countries, as well as in some Mediterranean countries. Mortality rates tended to converge at around 20/100000 in men and around 11/100000 in women. This converging pattern is even clearer when colorectal mortality rates are examined in three broad European regions. Similar mortality rates over recent calendar years have been reached by countries where mortality has been decreasing in recent decades and in those countries (mainly Eastern European and Mediterranean countries) which have experienced a recent levelling-off and decrease. If recent trends are maintained, colorectal cancer mortality is likely to decline further in Europe in the current decade.