With the Cataract Analysis System (CAS) we have analyzed 5878 consecutive cataract patients operated from 1986 through 1990. The material is complete enough to be regarded as representative of the cataract surgery performed in the entire referral region of the Lund Health Care District during this period. There has been a striking increase in the number of operations, in 1990 reaching 3.6 per 1000 inhabitants in the referral region. Simultaneously, surgery has changed from being mainly an in-patient to an out-patient procedure. Females predominate in the material, also after adjustment for the female preponderance in the population. Most likely, this is due to a higher incidence of cataract in women than in men.