Each year, the World Health Organization's World Malaria Report  assesses global and regional malaria trends, highlights progress towards global targets, and describes opportunities and challenges in controlling and eliminating the disease. Below are some of the highlights from the most recent report.

• Malaria can kill within 24 hours of symptom onset.
• Globally, there were an estimated 247 million malaria cases in 2021 in 84 malaria endemic countries (including the territory of French Guiana), an increase from 245 million in 2020, with most of this increase coming from countries in the WHO African Region. In 2015, the baseline year of the Global technical strategy for malaria 2016–2030 (GTS), there were an estimated 230 million malaria cases.
• Globally, malaria deaths reduced steadily over the period 2000–2019, from 897 000 in 2000 to 577 000 in 2015 and to 568 000 in 2019. In 2020, malaria deaths increased by 10% compared with 2019, to an estimated 625 000. Estimated deaths declined slightly in 2021 to 619 000. Between 2019 and 2021, there were 63 000 deaths that were due to disruptions to essential malaria services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The percentage of total malaria deaths in children aged under 5 years reduced from 87% in 2000 to 76% in 2015. Since then there has been no change.
• About 96% of malaria deaths globally were in 29 countries. Four countries accounted for just over half of all malaria deaths globally in 2021: Nigeria (31%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (13%), the Niger (4%) and the United Republic of Tanzania (4%).
• In 2021, in 38 moderate and high transmission countries in the WHO African Region, there were an estimated 40 million pregnancies, of which 13.3 million (32%) were exposed to malaria infection during pregnancy.
  

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  Source: WHO World Malaria Report 2022.