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Global TB deaths have dropped 35% since 2015, hitting a key WHO milestone — albeit five years late. The WHO's 2026 Global Tuberculosis Report shows 10.6 million new cases and 1.1 million deaths in 2025, even as domestic funding rose 14% to offset international financing cuts. TB remains the world's deadliest infectious disease, and progress on reducing new cases is far behind target.
The WHO's 2026 Global Tuberculosis Report brings cautious optimism: TB deaths have fallen 35% since 2015, officially reaching the first mortality milestone of the End TB Strategy — though five years behind schedule. In 2025, an estimated 10.6 million people developed TB and 1.1 million died, with treatment having saved an estimated 86 million lives since 2000.
The funding picture is complicated. International financing dropped significantly, but domestic investment stepped up — rising 14% to US$ 5.6 billion between 2024 and 2025. TB research funding, however, sits at just US$ 1.2 billion annually, less than a quarter of the US$ 5 billion target needed by 2027 to develop new vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments.
Progress is deeply uneven across regions, with the Americas seeing a fifth consecutive year of rising incidence — now 13% above 2015 levels — while Europe and Africa made stronger gains.
By the Numbers:
Why it matters: TB remains the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent worldwide. Without urgent action to close diagnostic gaps, boost research investment, and sustain funding, the global goal of ending TB by 2030 is increasingly out of reach.
