Global leprosy (Hansen Disease) update, 2025: Strengtheninga person-centered approach is integral to elimination of leprosy

Overview

For this update, reporting was done for the calendar year 2025, although a few countries reported for a different 12-month period (e.g. India reported for April 2025-March 2026 and Canada for the calendar year 2024). Epidemiological indicators have been expressed as absolute numbers, proportions, and rates. Rates were calculated per million population (total and child). Population estimates (medium variant) were accessed from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, World Population Prospects 2024.

Data on leprosy for 2025 was received from 203 countries and territories in all six WHO Regions. The number of countries that provide information on leprosy has increased significantly over the years. The regional distribution of countries and territories that reported data for 2025 was as follows: 47 in the African Region (AFR), 45 in the Region of the Americas (AMR), 19 in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR), 46 in the European Region (EUR), 10 in the South-East Asia Region (SEAR) and 36 in the Western Pacific Region (WPR). All countries in the AFR and SEAR provided reports; the reports from AMR, EUR and WPR increased as compared to the previous year. Reports were received from all 23 global priority countries for leprosy.