Measles cases have soared over the past two years
More than 127,350 cases of measles were reported in 2024. Children under five years old accounted for more than 40 per cent of all cases.
Before the introduction of the measles vaccine, around 2.6 million people died of the disease around the world every year. Millions more have experienced life-threatening or life-altering complications, including pneumonia, encephalitis, kidney damage, liver disease, brain damage, loss of hearing and loss of vision.
In the European Region – comprising 53 countries across Europe and Central Asia – cases have plummeted since countries adopted the two-dose vaccine regimen, which offers at least 97 per cent protection against infection.
In 2016, the Region hit a low of 4,440 cases. Eradicating measles completely seemed within reach. But in recent years, due to lower immunization levels, these successes have been reversing.
In 2024, the European Region recorded the highest number of measles cases in more than 25 years. Some 127,352 cases of measles were reported. Of those, more than 43 per cent – or 54,000 children – were in children under the age of five. More than half of all people who contracted measles – or more than 74,000 people – required hospitalization – highlighting the severity of this debilitating and deadly disease.
Cases are also climbing globally, with more than 359,521 measles cases reported around the world in 2024.
Because these are only reported cases, the true number of infections is likely to be higher.
This follows a backsliding in immunization coverage during the pandemic, as well as the persistence of vaccine hesitancy. In 2023, 500,000 children across the 53 countries in Europe and Central Asia missed the first dose of their measles vaccine. Less than 80 per cent of eligible children in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Romania received their first dose of the measles vaccine. This is far below the 95 per cent required for herd immunity, which is the level of vaccination coverage needed to protect those within a community, such as very young infants or immunocompromised individuals, who cannot or cannot yet be vaccinated.
