The global burden, year by year
Drag the timeline to walk through the 25-year arc. The map shades all endemic countries by malaria case incidence; the cards and charts track the world total. The story turns at 2015, and again at 2020.
Endemic countries by malaria burden
Shaded by case incidence (per 1000 at risk) · drag the globe to rotate
low
non-endemic / no estimate
0420+
WHO World Malaria Report 2025 · per-country incidence from Annex 3 (2024 anchor), inter-year shading modelled on WHO regional trends
Cases and deaths, 2000 to 2024
Cases climbed back to a 25-year high; deaths jumped in 2020
WHO World Malaria Report 2025, Table 2.1
Incidence vs mortality rate
Case incidence fell 26% to 2015, then rose 8.5%; deaths-per-100k kept easing
WHO estimates · incidence per 1000, mortality per 100,000 population at risk
The turning point
Between 2000 and 2015 the world cut malaria incidence by more than a quarter. Since then progress flatlined and reversed, cases are up 22.6%. The 2020 COVID-19 disruption alone pushed an extra ~11 million cases and 55,000 deaths as services faltered, and the curve has not recovered.
Six WHO regions, four metrics
Pick a region and a metric. The chart plots every region for comparison and lights up your selection. This is where the divergence lives: Africa carries the world, South-East Asia is nearly done.
All regions · malaria cases
Selected region highlighted · others dimmed for context
WHO World Malaria Report 2025, Tables 2.4 to 2.8 · rates modelled from population-at-risk denominators
The great divergence
Two regions, two destinies. Indexed to their year-2000 burden, South-East Asia has all but eliminated malaria while Africa stalled then crept upward. The map's colour story is really a story of these diverging lines.
−89%
South-East Asia cases since 2000 (23.6M → 2.7M)
On track for GTS targets
+31%
African Region cases since 2000 (203M → 265M)
▼ Progress reversed
2.3B
Cases averted globally, 2000 to 2024
76% of them in Africa
14M
Deaths averted globally, 2000 to 2024
93% of them in Africa
Cases indexed to 2000 (= 100)
South-East Asia collapses to 11; Africa sits above its starting point
WHO World Malaria Report 2025 · author calculation, cases ÷ 2000 value
Who carries the cases? Regional share
Africa's share of global cases climbed from 85% to 94% as others succeeded
WHO World Malaria Report 2025, Tables 2.1 to 2.8
Five countries, half the world's cases (2024)
01Nigeria24.3%
02Dem. Rep. of the Congo12.5%
03Uganda4.7%
04Ethiopia4.4%
05Mozambique3.6%
What moved the 2024 numbers
▲Ethiopiaconflict, service disruption+2.9M
▲Madagascarextreme climate events+1.9M
▲Yemenconflict+378K
▲Rwanda incidenceclimate, resistance+43.8%
✓Timor-Leste & Surinameeliminating→ 0
Why the lines split
South-East Asia met the 2020 milestone with relentless surveillance and treatment. Africa's stall is multifactorial: population growth in endemic zones, funding constraints, drug and insecticide resistance, conflict and climate shocks. The same tools work; the question is reach.
Kenya against the continental tide
Kenya carries roughly 1.5% of the world's cases, but its case incidence runs well below the African average, about a third of it. The country was the single largest recipient of insecticide-treated nets in 2024.
~82
Kenya case incidence, 2024 (per 1000 at risk)
vs 236 African average
~4.2M
Estimated Kenya cases, 2024
1.5% of the global total
16.6M
ITNs distributed in Kenya, 2024
Joint-largest of any country
1 of 3
Roll-out of the malaria vaccine reached Kenya in 2024
Among first-adopter nations
Kenya vs the African Region · case incidence
Kenya tracks far below the continental average across the whole arc
WHO World Malaria Report 2025 · Kenya 2024 anchor (Annex 3), African average from Table 2.4; inter-year path modelled on regional trend
Reading Kenya
Kenya sits in the WHO grouping of high-transmission east & southern Africa, yet its national incidence is closer to the moderate band. Sustained net coverage, expanding vaccine roll-out and a strengthening surveillance system keep it below the curve that is dragging the continent, but it remains one of the world's higher-burden countries in absolute case numbers.