Prevention and health promotion are strictly linked to the health literacy of population and to the theme of equity and social determinants. The aim of this study is to assess the associations between socioeconomic determinants and behavioural risk factors and cervical, breast and colorectal cancer screening non-execution. A representative sample of the adult population residing in Italy was interviewed by the PASSI surveillance (19,774 women aged 50-69 years, 38,138 women aged 25-64 years and 34,593 people aged 50-69 years about breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening respectively) in 2017-2019. The associations between non-execution of cancer screening in the recommended timeframe and socioeconomic characteristics were estimated using logistic regression models. Prevalence of not performing screening tests within the timeframe was calculated according to the presence/absence of behavioural risk factors. All percentages report 95% confidence intervals (95% IC). Screening non-execution was 24.9% (24.2-25.7 95% IC), 20.1% (19.6-20.6 95% IC), and 52.3% (51.7-52.9 95% IC) for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer, respectively. In the three regression models, those who had the lowest educational level, many economic difficulties, foreign citizenship and those who lived in the southern Italy were significantly associated with no performing screening tests in the recommended timeframe. For all cancer screening, among those who had never performed a test, less than 10% had high-risk drinking behaviour, more than 20% was smokers and almost 50% had insufficient physical activity. In conclusion, not performing screening tests within the timeframe is associated with unfavourable socioeconomic characteristics and unhealthy behaviours that are also risk factors for breast and colorectal cancer incidence. Our data agree with previous long-standing foundings, showing that more interventions have to be done in order to improve health promotion and to construct a stronger culture of prevention including the development of a comprehensive and global approach.