Africa accounted for 95% of global malaria deaths in 2024
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Zoom Eco
The WHO’s 2025 report estimates that malaria caused 610,000 deaths and 282 million cases worldwide in 2024, including about 579,000 deaths and 265 million cases in the African Region. Children under five accounted for 75% of African deaths, while the global toll rose by about nine million cases from 2023, according to the WHO.
Malaria caused approximately 282 million cases and 610,000 deaths worldwide in 2024, 95% of them in the African Region of the World Health Organisation (WHO), or nearly 579,000 deaths, according to the WHO’s World Malaria Report 2025, published in December 2025.
The African Region also accounted for 94 to 95% of global cases, or approximately 265 million, and children under five represented nearly 75% of deaths recorded in the region, according to the WHO. The global toll increased by approximately nine million cases compared with 2023.
Prevention and treatment tools nevertheless helped avert approximately 170 million cases and one million deaths in 2024. The WHO notably cites dual-active-ingredient mosquito nets, vaccines and seasonal chemoprevention among the measures used against the disease transmitted by female mosquitoes of the Anopheles genus.
