Neurological Disorders in Europe & Central Asia

Neurological disorders encompass a wide range of conditions affecting the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system — including epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, motor neuron diseases (such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), migraine disorders, and neuropathies. This category excludes Alzheimer's disease, other dementias, and Parkinson's disease, which are tracked separately due to their large and growing mortality burden. The Global Burden of Disease study estimates that neurological conditions collectively rank among the leading contributors to disability-adjusted life years worldwide. Epilepsy alone affects roughly 50 million people globally, with three-quarters of those in low-income countries lacking access to appropriate treatment — a phenomenon known as the epilepsy treatment gap. Motor neuron diseases, while comparatively rare, carry extremely high case fatality: median survival for ALS is two to five years from symptom onset. As populations age and infectious disease mortality declines through the epidemiological transition, neurological disorders represent a growing share of global mortality and disability, placing increasing demands on neurology workforces that remain critically understaffed in most low- and middle-income countries. Europe and Central Asia benefit from relatively strong health systems and high physician density, but face ageing populations, rising non-communicable disease burdens, and persistent East-West health outcome gradients. In Europe & Central Asia, neurological disorders mortality is near global averages, though the region exhibits a marked gradient between Western European countries with low rates and Central Asian nations facing higher burdens.

Prevention strategies vary considerably across neurological conditions. For epilepsy, ensuring access to affordable antiseizure medications — particularly in low-resource settings — prevents the majority of seizure-related deaths, while addressing perinatal injury, traumatic brain injury, and central nervous system infections reduces incidence. Disease-modifying therapies for multiple sclerosis have improved long-term outcomes in high-income settings, though access remains limited elsewhere. Motor neuron diseases currently lack curative treatments, making supportive care, respiratory management, and multidisciplinary rehabilitation the primary means of extending survival. Broader investments in neonatal care, road safety, infectious disease control, and neurology workforce training offer the greatest population-level returns for reducing neurological mortality across diverse settings.

The mortality estimates presented on this page are derived from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, produced by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). The GBD synthesizes data from vital registration systems, verbal autopsies, cancer registries, and surveillance networks across more than 200 countries and territories. Death rates are expressed per 100,000 population and are age-standardized, which adjusts for differences in age structure between populations so that comparisons across countries and over time reflect genuine differences in mortality risk rather than demographic composition.

The dataset typically covers the period from 1990 to 2023, although availability varies by country and cause. When interpreting the figures for neurological disorders in Europe & Central Asia, note that higher age-standardized rates indicate a greater mortality burden independent of whether a country's population is older or younger. Trends over time reveal whether public health interventions, economic development, and health system improvements have reduced or increased the toll of this condition in the region.

The cause-of-death categories used on this page follow the Global Burden of Disease cause hierarchy, a standardized classification that groups individual ICD-coded causes into clinically meaningful categories. The "share of deaths" metric shows what percentage of all deaths in a given country or region are attributed to neurological disorders. A rising share does not necessarily mean more people are dying from this cause — it may reflect success in reducing competing causes of death. Always examine both absolute rates and shares for a complete picture of mortality patterns in Europe & Central Asia.

Global Neurological Disorders All Europe & Central Asia Data Global Explorer Compare Countries Neurological Disorders in East Asia & Pacific Neurological Disorders in Latin America & Caribbean Neurological Disorders in Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan