HQ Team
October 5, 2026: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) accounted for eight of the world’s ten leading causes of death in 2023, up from 58% in 2000, according to a report by the World Health Organization.
Diseases such as diabetes, dementia, mental health conditions and drug use disorders were behind 74% of global deaths in 2023, even though global life expectancy reached 73.3 years in the same year, close to the 73.4 years recorded in 2019, a pre-pandemic level.
“The long-term shift towards NCDs continues,” according to the WHO’s latest Global Health Estimates.
The shift is increasingly visible across all income levels. In 2023, for the first time, communicable diseases accounted for less than half of all deaths in low-income countries, marking another step in the global epidemiological transition.
Ischaemic heart disease
“Living longer is one of the great achievements of public health,” said Dr Alain Labrique, Director of WHO’s Department of Data, Digital Health, Analytics and AI. “The next challenge is to ensure that those additional years are lived in good health, while health systems are equipped to respond to the changing needs of populations.”
Cardiovascular diseases remained the leading cause of death and disease burden worldwide. In 2023, ischaemic heart disease alone caused about 9.5 million deaths and 210 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), measured in years of healthy life lost.
The report says substantial progress has been made in reducing the burden of ischaemic heart disease since 2000 in many parts of the world.
However, a greater risk at an individual level were recorded in the WHO Western Pacific and South-East Asia Regions, highlighting persistent inequalities in cardiovascular health between populations.
Dementia
The risk of dying from diabetes has risen substantially since 2000, particularly in South-East Asia. Alzheimer disease and other dementias have also risen sharply; for example, dementia became the fifth leading cause of death globally in 2023, compared with 19th in 2000. Global deaths from dementia tripled over this period.
Mental health conditions are another important part of the changing global health picture.
In the 2019-2023 period, the global age-standardised DALY rate increased by approximately 20% for depressive disorders and nearly 45% for anxiety disorders.
Together, these conditions accounted for an estimated 110 million years of healthy life loss through premature death and disability in 2023.
Drug use disorders
Drug use disorders showed similar trends across regions. Between 2000 and 2023, the WHO Region of the Americas recorded the largest increases in risk of mortality and healthy life loss, while the Western Pacific saw substantial declines.
“The value of these estimates is not only in the numbers themselves,” said Dr Labrique.
“By showing how causes of death and disease burden are changing over time and across populations, they give countries evidence to help shape health policies and priorities.
“They also help WHO support countries in building resilient, essential digital and data infrastructure while strengthening national and subnational capacity to analyse health data and generate timely, actionable insights,” he was quoted as saying in the report.
“These capabilities are critical to better enable targeted, effective interventions and ultimately further improving health and well-being for all.”
