WHO’s World Malaria Report 2025 estimates that 282 million malaria cases and 610,000 deaths occurred worldwide in 2024. These are estimates for the year being measured, not totals for 2025 or 2026. The report and WHO’s fact sheet describe a continuing public-health burden rather than a verified record-low mortality milestone. WHO report
The WHO African Region accounted for approximately 95% of cases and deaths in 2024. Children under five accounted for roughly three-quarters of malaria deaths within that region. WHO’s fact sheet gives 75% in its key facts and 76% in its burden discussion; this article uses an approximate description rather than implying those two figures agree exactly. Both concern children in the African Region, not three-quarters of all deaths worldwide. WHO fact sheet
The report emphasizes that progress in reducing the malaria mortality rate remains off track. A global case estimate, a death estimate and a mortality rate are different measures; a claim about improvement in one cannot be inferred simply from a number in another.
WHO also documents countries certified malaria-free. Country-level elimination is distinct from global eradication and does not mean transmission has ended everywhere. These sources provide the appropriate basis for reporting the scale and distribution of the burden without inventing a new global declaration.
Archive note: the earlier claim of a global record-low death total was not substantiated.