Global deaths from TB fell by three percent compared with 2023, while overall cases dropped by nearly two percent, according to the WHO’s annual report. An estimated 10.7 million people contracted TB in 2024, including 5.8 million men, 3.7 million women and 1.2 million children.
TB is a preventable and curable bacterial infection that most commonly affects the lungs and spreads through the air when an infected person coughs, sneezes or spits. WHO officials said that for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted essential services, both cases and deaths are now declining.
Tereza Kasaeva, who heads the WHO department for HIV, TB, hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections, cautioned that the gains remain at risk. She noted that “funding cuts and persistent drivers of the epidemic threaten to undo hard-won progress,” stressing that sustained investment and global political will are needed to “end this ancient killer once and for all.”
Funding for TB programmes has stagnated since 2020. In 2024, only $5.9 billion was available for prevention, diagnosis and treatment—far below the $22 billion per year the WHO says is required by 2027.
Last year, India carried the heaviest burden, accounting for 25 percent of global TB cases, followed by Indonesia (10 percent), the Philippines (6.8 percent), China (6.5 percent), Pakistan (6.3 percent), Nigeria (4.8 percent), the Democratic Republic of Congo (3.9 percent) and Bangladesh (3.6 percent).
Key factors fuelling the epidemic include undernutrition, HIV infection, diabetes, smoking and alcohol-use disorders. TB also remains the leading cause of death among people living with HIV, with 150,000 such deaths recorded in 2024.
Despite the challenges, the WHO reported that 8.3 million people were newly diagnosed and received treatment last year—a record high. Treatment success rates improved as well, rising from 68 percent to 71 percent. Since 2000, timely TB diagnosis and treatment are estimated to have saved 83 million lives worldwide.
