Once again, the World Malaria Report published annually by the World Health Organization has provided an assessment of global progress in malaria control and elimination. Drawing on 2024 data from 80 malaria-endemic countries, the latest report has tracked trends in malaria, evaluating progress towards the targets set under the WHO Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016-2030.
Surge After Years of Fluctuation
In total, an estimated 282 million cases of malaria were recorded in 2024, an increase of almost 9 million cases, which is 3% more than in 2023. In all, three countries are responsible for 58% of this global increase: Ethiopia with about +2.9 million, followed by Madagascar with about +1.9 million, and Yemen with about +378,000.
Malaria deaths also increased. In 2024, an estimated 610000 deaths were reported worldwide, which is 12000 more than in 2023. Over all, between 2015 and 2024, malaria deaths rose by 5.5%, with more than a third of this increase occurring between 2023 and 2024 alone.
At a global level, between 2000 and 2015, malaria cases had declined slightly by 3.8%, falling from 239 million to 230 million across 108 endemic countries. However, since 2015, cases have surged by 22.6%.
While the WHO South-East Asia Region recorded an overall decline, significant increases were observed in the WHO African Region (88%) and the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region (12%), underscoring widening regional disparities.
Highlighting a growing diagnostic concern, the report indicates malaria parasites with pfhrp2 gene deletions have now been identified in 42 countries. These genetic changes compromise the effectiveness of commonly used rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) that detect the HRP2 antigen, posing a serious risk to timely diagnosis and treatment.
What Drives the Surge
According to the WHO, the rise in malaria cases is multifactorial and varies by country context. Population growth partly explains the increase, but conflict, political instability and climate-related disasters have played a significant role.
Countries such as Ethiopia and Yemen have experienced prolonged conflict, while Madagascar has faced extreme climate events. These conditions have disrupted health services, weakened intervention delivery, and reduced the use of mosquito nets in high-burden areas. Ongoing population displacement, shortages of medicines and health workers, roadblocks, limited diagnostic capacity, and intense population movement particularly in peri-urban zones have further aggravated transmission.
Similarly, in the Americas, rising malaria transmission was observed in Amazonian districts, especially among dispersed Indigenous communities and border regions where access to health services is limited. In Panama, increased transmission followed population movement routes, primarily affecting communities facing diagnostic and treatment challenges.
Gender Data Reveals Unequal Vulnerabilities
For the first time, the World Malaria Report 2025 presents sex-disaggregated malaria case data, offering insights into gender-linked vulnerabilities. It reflected that adolescent girls face heightened risks due to biological factors such as pregnancy and social barriers including limited access to prevention tools and healthcare. Men, meanwhile, are often at greater risk due to outdoor and night-time occupations.
In the WHO African Region, 76.5% of cases were not disaggregated by sex. Among reported cases, 57.1% were female and 42.9% male. In contrast, the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region disaggregated 96.9% of cases, with 52.6% male and 44.8% female. In this regard, the South-East Asia Region reported complete sex-disaggregated data, with 60.9% male and 39.1% female cases. In this region, Nepal recorded the lowest proportion of female cases (7.5%), while India reported the highest (42.7%). In the Western Pacific Region, 58.2% of cases lacked sex disaggregation.
Progress Uneven Across Countries
Of the 93 malaria-endemic countries in 2015, 10 have been certified malaria-free. These countries are Algeria, Azerbaijan, Belize, Cabo Verde, China, El Salvador, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Tajikistan and Timor-Leste.
While 34 other countries reduced malaria incidence, they fell short of expected targets. Moreover, 30 countries recorded increased incidence, including 18 countries that saw rises of 70% or more. In eight countries, incidence remained largely unchanged.
In 2024, the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region reported 11.1 million malaria cases, accounting for 3.9% of the global burden. Sudan alone contributed 44.6% of regional cases, followed by Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan, Djibouti and Iran. More than one-quarter of cases were caused by P. vivax.
The South-East Asia Region recorded an overall 67.5% decline in malaria cases between 2015 and 2024 and remains on track to meet GTS 2025 and 2030 mortality targets. India accounted for 73.3% of regional cases and 88.7% of malaria deaths, with 3,900 deaths reported in 2024.
Nearly one-quarter of deaths occurred among children under five. While cases declined in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand, increases were seen in India (11.1%), Nepal (146.7%) and North Korea (65.6%). Nepal’s increase may be linked to its porous border with India.
Other countries including Iran, Myanmar, Sudan, Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan reported rising malaria trends. In Iran, confirmed cases rose from 1,439 in 2022 to 2,528 in 2023, before declining to 2,034 in 2024, marking a 70% increase since 2015. Cross-border movement from Pakistan, combined with resource shortages, hampered diagnosis and case classification.
The WHO European Region has remained malaria-free since 2015. Tajikistan, the last country to report an indigenous case, did so in 2014. No malaria deaths were recorded in the region between 2000 and 2024.
Countries reporting no major change since 2015 include Chad, Congo, Gabon, Nigeria, Tanzania, Somalia and the Republic of Korea.
WHO’s 2025 Focus: Sustaining Elimination
In 2025, WHO issued its first worldwide recommendations on preventing the re-introduction of malaria, aimed at those countries that have eliminated malaria or are close to elimination, especially in tropical and subtropical areas.
Other technical guidance included Malaria control in emergencies. Field manuals, technical tools for national malaria data repositories, and manuals for sub-national tailoring of malaria strategies formed part of it. Several countries also intended to scale up immunization with malaria vaccines into childhood immunization programs.
Today, more than 100 countries are now free of the plague of malaria, though the prevention of its re-establishment has now been recognized as one of the global objectives in controlling the disease.
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