A graphical output was obtained using classical principal component analysis techniques in order to analyse tuberculosis trends in Europe over a 27-year period (1980-2006). Taxonomic methods were used to better define the interrelationship between the data in the 52 countries studied. Data were provided by the World Health Organization. Differences in the overall incidence and trends were identified during the 1980-2006 period. The highest rates of incidence were reported in Kazakhstan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania and Kyrgyzstan. High and moderately high rates were reported in the former Soviet Union, the former Yugoslavia, some countries from the former Eastern Bloc, Turkey and Portugal. The lowest rates were reported in the eastern Mediterranean, Scandinavia and Iceland. Risk of infection was determined by social conditions, intravenous drug use, HIV infection and immigration from countries where tuberculosis is endemic. As regards development of tuberculosis in Europe, 1992 represents the change in the decreasing trend in the incidence observed from 1980, when the incidence presented a minimum general trend and started to increase. The linear model calculated to project the rate of increase from 2006 to 2015, reveals the tuberculosis rates observed during the 1980s.