Malaria
Global mortality data, country rankings, and trends for Malaria from 1990 to 2021.
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Malaria is a significant contributor to the global burden of disease. This page presents data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) Global Burden of Disease Study, showing mortality trends, country rankings, and regional patterns. Understanding the epidemiology of malaria helps inform public health interventions and resource allocation.
This data is sourced from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) Global Burden of Disease Study 2023, processed via Our World in Data. Values represent each cause's share of total deaths (%) unless otherwise noted. Explore related mortality data using the links below.
Malaria, a parasitic disease transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes, kills approximately 620,000 people annually — the vast majority children under five in sub-Saharan Africa. Plasmodium falciparum is responsible for most severe cases and deaths, while P. vivax causes relapsing illness across South Asia and Latin America. The disease causes cyclical fevers, severe anaemia, cerebral malaria, and multi-organ failure. Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo account for nearly 40% of global malaria deaths. Between 2000 and 2015, scaling up of insecticide-treated nets, indoor residual spraying, rapid diagnostic tests, and artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) reduced malaria mortality by roughly 60%. However, progress has stalled since 2015. Insecticide resistance in Anopheles vectors, artemisinin partial resistance emerging in Africa, climate-driven range expansion, and the disruptions caused by COVID-19 threaten to reverse gains. Malaria has shaped human evolution through selection for sickle-cell trait and other haemoglobin variants.
Across 92 countries, malaria accounts for an average of 2.9% of total deaths. Regional disparities are substantial: Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest regional average at 5.5%, while South Asia records the lowest at 0.1% — a 102.0-fold difference that underscores the geographic inequality in malaria mortality burden.
Long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) are the most cost-effective malaria intervention, averting an estimated 68% of cases prevented since 2000. Seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine plus amodiaquine protects children in the Sahel. The WHO-recommended RTS,S vaccine (Mosquirix) and the more effective R21/Matrix-M vaccine represent breakthroughs in malaria immunisation. Indoor residual spraying, larval source management, and prompt diagnosis and treatment with ACTs complete the intervention toolkit. Gene-drive technology for mosquito suppression is under research.