Malaria caused an estimated 282 million cases and 610,000 deaths across 80 malaria-endemic countries in 2024. The latest figures also show a mixed picture: long-term progress has prevented billions of cases, while global incidence and deaths remain higher than in 2015. For travelers, these statistics underline why malaria risk varies sharply by destination, season and population group.
Contents
- Global burden and trends
- Regional malaria patterns
- Children, pregnancy and population groups
- Prevention and insecticide-treated nets
- Diagnosis, treatment and drug resistance
- Elimination milestones
- Vaccines and projected impact
Global burden and trends
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated 282 million malaria cases in 80 malaria-endemic countries in 2024, with approximately 610,000 deaths worldwide. The estimated global case incidence was 64 cases per 1,000 population at risk, while global mortality was 13.8 deaths per 100,000 population at risk. These are estimates for populations exposed to malaria, rather than rates for the entire world population. (Source: Executive summary of the World malaria report 2025)
The most recent year also moved in the wrong direction for total cases. Estimated cases rose from 273 million in 2023 to 282 million in 2024. Over the longer 2015–2024 period, estimated cases increased from 230 million to 282 million, and global case incidence rose from 59 to 64 cases per 1,000 population at risk.
Deaths show a similarly important distinction between progress and current burden. Estimated global malaria deaths were 578,000 in 2015, compared with 610,000 in 2024. At the same time, the mortality rate declined from 14.9 to 13.8 deaths per 100,000 population at risk between 2015 and 2024. In other words, the estimated rate improved even as the total number of deaths increased.
The longer historical view is more positive. WHO estimates that 2.3 billion malaria cases were averted worldwide between 2000 and 2024. That cumulative estimate reflects the effect of prevention, diagnosis, treatment and other malaria-control measures across the period. (Source: World malaria report 2025)
Regional malaria patterns
Malaria is concentrated geographically. The WHO African Region accounted for 94% of global cases and 95% of global deaths in 2024. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nigeria and Uganda contributed more than half of all global malaria cases that year. Eleven high-burden countries accounted for about two thirds of global cases and deaths. (Sources: Malaria — Global Health Observatory; World malaria report 2025)
Regional totals and reported surveillance counts are not interchangeable. In the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, the estimated burden was 11.1 million cases and 22,100 deaths in 2024, while the region reported 4.6 million presumed and confirmed cases. Of those reported cases, 69.9% were confirmed. The confirmation share was 18.8% in 2015, showing a substantial change in the proportion of reported cases supported by testing. (Source: WHO EMRO malaria epidemiological situation)
The WHO South-East Asia Region recorded an estimated 4 million malaria cases in 2023, down 82.4% from 22.8 million in 2000. Estimated deaths fell from 35,000 in 2000 to 6,000 in 2023. This long-term regional reduction illustrates why a single global number can conceal very different trends between regions. (Source: WHO calls for continued efforts against malaria in South-East Asia Region, amid progress)
The WHO Region of the Americas had an estimated 550,000 malaria cases and 342 deaths in 2023. Plasmodium vivax accounted for 72.1% of malaria cases in that region. These are regional estimates for 2023 and should not be generalized to every country or destination in the Americas. (Source: World malaria report 2024)
Children, pregnancy and population groups
The burden is especially severe for young children in Africa. Children under 5 accounted for about 75% of malaria deaths in the WHO African Region in 2024, and about 438,000 African children died from malaria that year. Nigeria accounted for 31.9% of malaria deaths in the region, followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo at 11.7% and Niger at 6.1%. (Sources: Malaria; Malaria vaccines (RTS,S and R21))
Pregnancy is another major population-level concern. Among an estimated 36 million pregnancies in 33 moderate-to-high transmission African countries in 2023, 12.4 million, or 34%, were infected with malaria. This is an estimate for the specified countries and pregnancy population, not a global pregnancy rate. (Source: World malaria report 2024)
The age pattern differs by region. Adults accounted for 78% of malaria-related deaths in the WHO Region of the Americas in 2023. In the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, children under 5 represented 17.3% of reported malaria cases in 2024. Reported cases and deaths are surveillance measures, so these figures describe the source region’s reporting context rather than a universal age distribution. (Sources: World malaria report 2024; WHO EMRO malaria epidemiological situation)
Prevention and insecticide-treated nets
Insecticide-treated nets remain a major malaria-prevention tool in sub-Saharan Africa. More than 3 billion nets had been distributed globally since 2004 by the 2024 reporting cycle. In 2023, 73% of households in sub-Saharan Africa owned at least one net, and 52% of people in those households reported sleeping under one. Manufacturers delivered 195 million nets to the region in 2023. (Source: Questions & answers on the World malaria report 2024)
Coverage estimates and household ownership measure different parts of access:
| Measure | Period | Statistic |
|---|---|---|
| People at risk sleeping under a treated net | 2024 | 47% |
| Households owning at least one treated net | 2023 | 73% |
| People in households reporting they slept under a net | 2023 | 52% |
| Households with at least one net, coverage model | 2024 | 67% |
| People with access to a net within their household, coverage model | 2024 | 55% |
The 2024 figures show why possession, access and reported use should not be treated as synonyms. An estimated 47% of people at risk in sub-Saharan Africa slept under an insecticide-treated net in 2024. The coverage model estimated that 67% of households had at least one net and 55% of people had access to one within their household. (Source: Questions & answers on the World malaria report 2024)
Net composition has also changed. About 78% of nets delivered to sub-Saharan Africa in 2023 were pyrethroid-PBO or dual-active-ingredient nets. The share shipped rose from 10% in 2019 to 84% in 2024. These delivery figures describe the type of nets supplied, not the percentage of all nets currently in use. (Source: Questions & answers on the World malaria report 2024)
Diagnosis, treatment and drug resistance
Malaria surveillance increasingly has to account for diagnostic and treatment challenges. Parasites with mutations affecting HRP2 or HRP3 rapid diagnostic tests were reported in 42 malaria-endemic countries in 2024. Viet Nam was one of those countries and reported the mutations for the first time in 2024. (Source: Malaria)
Partial resistance to artemisinin derivatives had been confirmed or suspected in at least eight African countries by the 2025 report. This is a report-year finding about resistance status, not a prediction that every malaria infection or destination has the same treatment response. (Source: World malaria report 2025)
Testing trends can also affect how regional statistics are interpreted. In the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, 69.9% of reported malaria cases were confirmed in 2024, compared with 18.8% in 2015. A higher confirmation share can improve classification of reported cases, but it does not by itself establish that the underlying estimated malaria burden rose or fell. (Source: WHO EMRO malaria epidemiological situation)
Elimination milestones
The number of countries reporting very low indigenous transmission has increased. Thirty-seven countries reported fewer than 1,000 indigenous malaria cases in 2024, compared with 13 countries in 2000. By 2025, 47 countries and one territory were officially certified malaria-free by WHO. Certification is an official milestone and does not mean malaria risk is identical across all travel routes or that reintroduction is impossible. (Sources: Malaria; World malaria report 2025)
Four countries—Azerbaijan, Belize, Cabo Verde and Tajikistan—were certified malaria-free in 2023. Saudi Arabia reported four consecutive years of zero indigenous malaria cases by 2024. Georgia and Türkiye submitted applications for WHO malaria-free certification in 2024; an application is a step in the certification process, not certification itself. (Sources: World malaria report 2024; WHO EMRO malaria epidemiological situation)
Vaccines and projected impact
Malaria vaccination has moved from pilot programmes into broader childhood immunization. As of 13 November 2024, 15 countries had introduced malaria vaccination: eight with RTS,S, eight with R21/Matrix-M and one with both vaccines. The categories overlap because one country used both vaccines. (Source: Update on safety of malaria vaccines)
By February 2026, 25 African countries were offering malaria vaccines through childhood immunization programmes, targeting more than 10 million children per year. More than 2 million children in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi received malaria vaccine through the pilot programme from 2019 through 2023. The RTS,S pilot was associated with a 13% reduction in mortality among children eligible for vaccination, and at least one malaria-prevention intervention reached more than 90% of children in the pilot countries. (Source: Malaria vaccines (RTS,S and R21))
Phase 3 trials found that both WHO-recommended malaria vaccines reduced cases by more than 50% during the first year after vaccination. In areas with highly seasonal transmission and seasonal chemoprevention, seasonal use of either vaccine reduced malaria episodes by about 75%. These are trial results and should not be read as an individualized estimate of protection for a particular traveler. WHO recommends a four-dose schedule beginning at around 5 months of age. (Source: Malaria vaccines (RTS,S and R21))
Finally, modelling estimates that scaled-up malaria vaccination could prevent approximately 500,000 child deaths by 2035. This is a forecast, not an observed total. The estimate depends on future vaccination scale-up and other conditions represented in the model. (Source: Malaria vaccines (RTS,S and R21))