A quarter of the global population is estimated to be infected with latent TB. One in ten of these people will go on to develop the disease.
Annually, over 10 million people develop TB, leading to 1.6 million deaths. Yet the majority of TB deaths are avoidable through early diagnosis and treatment.
The missing 3 million
Of the 10 million people who fell ill with TB in 2017, 3 million did not get the care they needed. These ‘missing’ millions make up the majority of the 1.6 million people who died from TB in 2017.
High burden countries
TB is a global problem. Yet the majority of people who fall ill with TB (66%) live in one of eight countries: India (27%), China (9%), Indonesia(8%), the Philippines (6%), Pakistan (5%), Nigeria (4%),Bangladesh (4%) or South Africa (3%).
Of the 474,000 people that fell ill with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), almost half lived in just three countries: India (24%), China (13%) and the Russian Federation (10%).
Global TB targets
Taking 2015 as a baseline:
- the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for an 80% reduction in TB incidence and a 90% reduction in TB deaths by 2030.
- the WHO End TB Strategy calls for a 90% reduction in the TB incidence and a 95% reduction in TB deaths by 2035.
In order to meet these targets, global rates of decline in TB incidence need to accelerate from 2% annually to 4–5% by 2020.
Find out more
Global TB statistics:
WHO, Global Tuberculosis Report 2018
Global TB targets:
WHO, End TB Strategy 2015
Sustainable Development Goals 2030