Global efforts to end tuberculosis (TB) continue to make progress, with fewer people falling ill and dying from the disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Report 2026 released today.
This progress comes as domestic funding for TB increased by 14% to US$ 5.6 billion between 2024 and 2025, in part offsetting a decline in international financing of a similar scale. This increase underscores the importance of domestic investment in sustaining TB services and protecting hard-won health gains amid a global health funding crunch.
In 2025, an estimated 10.6 million people developed TB and 1.1 million people died from TB. With deaths falling by 35% since 2015 and treatment saving an estimated 86 million lives since 2000, the world has reached the first mortality milestone of WHO’s End TB Strategy although five years later than planned. And progress has come too slowly. Since 2015, the global TB incidence rate (new cases per 100 000 population) has declined by 14%, far short of the 50% reduction milestone for 2025, and TB remains the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent.
"The continued decline in TB cases and deaths is very encouraging, especially given the challenges many countries have faced from funding cuts," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. "Many governments have dug deeper into their own budgets to protect the gains they have made. And yet, more than one million people still die each year from a disease that is preventable and treatable. We urge countries and partners to urgently expand access to TB services, protect essential funding and accelerate the development of new tools to end this epidemic.”
The global TB burden remains heavily concentrated in 30 countries, which account for 88% of people who developed TB in 2025. Progress was uneven across regions. Between 2015 and 2025, TB incidence fell by 42% in the WHO European Region and 30% in the African Region, compared with 18% in South-East Asia and just 6.6% in the Eastern Mediterranean. There was no net change (0%) in the Western Pacific. In the Americas, incidence rose for the fifth consecutive year in 2025, reaching 13% above 2015 levels. These stark differences reflect variations in the TB risk factors, the strength of health systems, access to services and levels of sustained investment.
Major gaps in access to timely diagnosis and treatment remain. Of the estimated 10.6 million people who developed TB in 2025, 8.4 million were diagnosed, leaving an estimated 2.2 million either undiagnosed or unreported. Just 59% of newly diagnosed patients were tested using a WHO-recommended rapid diagnostic test, far short of the 100% target for 2027.
Drug-resistant TB remains a major public health challenge. Of the estimated 370 000 people who developed rifampicin-resistant TB in 2025, only 42% received treatment. Among those treated, uptake of the WHO-recommended six-month treatment regimen increased substantially, from 18% in 2024 to 42% in 2025.
Investment in TB research is critically insufficient. Research funding stood at US$ 1.2 billion in 2023, less than one quarter of the required US$ 5 billion annual target for 2027. Greater investment is urgently needed to develop and roll out new vaccines, diagnostics and treatments.
WHO is calling on governments and partners to strengthen political commitment, protect and increase sustainable financing for TB, rapidly expand access to prevention, rapid diagnosis and effective treatment, and accelerate investment in new tools. Progress must be much faster to put the world back on track towards ending the TB epidemic.
About WHO
Dedicated to the well-being of all people and guided by science, WHO leads and champions global efforts to give everyone, everywhere, an equal chance at a safe and healthy life. We are the United Nations’ agency for health that connects nations, partners and people in more than 150 locations – leading the world’s response to health emergencies, preventing disease, addressing the root causes of health issues and expanding access to medicines and health care. Our mission is to support all countries to promote, provide and protect health. “Together for health. Stand with science”, the theme of World Health Day 2026, marks a year-long campaign to highlight science as the foundation for protecting health and well-being worldwide.