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WHO Global Health Estimates from July 2024

Bar diagram on numbers of deaths from major global challenges in 2021.

We present data from the new WHO Global Health Estimates on major global challenges. Global2030 defines these as issues arising from limited access to vital resources such as food, clean air or healthcare. We present the results in order of the number of annual deaths.

The data refers to 2021, unless otherwise stated.

COVID-19 led to about 8.71 million deaths in 2021 and 4.05 million in 2020 and was therefore the No. 1 killer among the observed challenges. The figures are based on excess mortality, so do not only take into account registered COVID-19 deaths.
Pneumonia and other lower respiratory tract infections (excluding COVID-19 and tuberculosis) cost 2.45 million lives in 2021.
Neonatal mortality claimed 1.93 million lives.
Tuberculosis killed 1.40 million people.
Diarrhoeal diseases, mainly caused by unsafe drinking water and unsafe or no sanitation facilities, led to 1.24 million deaths, mainly among children.
Road traffic accidents claimed the lives of 1.18 million people.
Hepatitis B and C led to the loss of 1.11 million lives, mainly due to resultant liver cirrhosis and liver cancer.
HIV/AIDS caused 647 000 deaths.
Malaria killed 605 000 people, mainly children.
Maternal mortality cost the lives of 259 000 adolescent girls and women.
Malnutrition caused 257 000 direct deaths, excluding its contribution to other diseases, which was responsible for a far greater number of deaths.
In armed conflicts, about 125 000 people were killed in 2021, including civilian casualties.
Measles killed 81 300 people, mostly children.
Natural disasters caused about 9170 deaths in 2021.

The WHO Global Health Estimates are one of the two most comprehensive sources of data on global challenges. They provide consistent, directly comparable data for a wide range of global health issues. The latest versions are based on the Global Burden of Disease Study from May 2024, whose calculations the WHO links with its own data.

Source

World Health Organization (WHO), July 2024: Global Health Estimates Summary Tables; Deaths by Cause, Age and Sex, by World Bank Income Groups, 2000-2021.