Malaria facts & statistics

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 2023 report.

• In 2022, global cases increased by 5 million compared to 2021 to 249 million cases.
• The increase was mainly concentrated in 5 countries:  Pakistan, Nigeria and Ethiopia, Uganda and Papua New Guinea due to a combination of factors including catastrophic weather events, population growth and conflict/migration.
• The number of lives lost to malaria saw a marginal decline versus 2021 at 608,000 deaths, but still significantly higher than 2019, where deaths were 576 000.
• 76% of global malaria deaths were in children under 5 years old.
• 94% of cases and 95% of the deaths were in the WHO African region.
• Four countries – Nigeria (27%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (12%), Uganda (5%) and Mozambique (4%) – accounted for almost half of all cases globally.
• Globally, an estimated 2.1 billion malaria cases and 11.7 million malaria deaths were averted in the period 2000–2022.
• Insecticide treated net (ITN) use remains generally unchanged, with only 50% of people sleeping under a net.
• 42% coverage with Intermittent Preventive Treatment in pregnancy (IPTp) was up significantly from 34% in 2021, but indicates that too many pregnant women are still missing out on malaria prevention treatments.
• The delivery of 217 million courses of Artemisinin Combination Therapy antimalarial treatment last year was less than in 2021.
• Amongst the numerous challenges facing malaria elimination, climate change was a focus in this years report. 

Endemic countries’ commitment and global resolve to control and eliminate malaria have led to some successes in 2022-2023, including:

• The scale-up of seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) reaching 49.4 million children in 2022 at high risk of severe malaria.
• Roll-out of the world’s first malaria vaccine, RTS,S/AS01 in 2022 and a WHO recommendation for a second, cheaper vaccine, R21/Matrix-M, in 2023.
• Availability of a new generation of dual-active ingredient insecticide-treated nets.
• The achievement of malaria elimination in a widening circle of countries: between 2000 and 2022, 25 countries that were malaria endemic in 2000 have achieved 3 consecutive years of zero indigenous malaria cases. Twelve of these countries were certified malaria free by WHO.
• 12 countries are part of the High Burden High Impact (HBHI) approach and are  tailoring their interventions at a sub-national level for optimal impact. These countries accounted for 67% of all cases and 73% of deaths globally.

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  Source: WHO World Malaria Report 2023.