Heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular diseases are the world's leading cause of death, and most of the 1.4 billion adults with high blood pressure, a key driver, do not have it under control.
Updated October 14, 2026. Written from the sources listed below, not independently peer-reviewed.
Out of every 100 adults aged 30–79 who have high blood pressure, roughly how many have it under control?
19.8 million
Deaths from cardiovascular diseases
About 32% of all deaths worldwide; 85% of them were caused by heart attacks and strokes. WHO modelled estimate.
Data year 2022. Source: World Health Organization, 2025
1.4 billion
Adults aged 30–79 with high blood pressure
33% of people in this age range, up from 650 million in 1990. About 44% of them do not know they have it.
Data year 2024. Source: World Health Organization, 2025
23%
Share of people with hypertension who have it under control
About 320 million adults. In 99 of 195 countries and territories, fewer than 20% of people with hypertension have it under control.
Data year 2024. Source: World Health Organization, 2025
Unit: % probability
UN estimates (based on WHO data) for SDG indicator 3.4.1, which combines cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease; cardiovascular disease is the largest of the four. Only the years stated in the source are plotted. Progress slowed after 2015 and levelled off in 2020–2021 in countries with reliable data; if pre-2019 trends resumed, the risk is projected to reach 16.3% by 2030, which would still miss the target.
SDG target 3.4 aims to cut premature deaths from noncommunicable diseases, including cardiovascular disease, by one third between 2015 and 2030. The risk of dying from one of the four main noncommunicable diseases between ages 30 and 70 fell only from 18.4% in 2015 to 18.0% in 2019, progress stalled in 2020–2021, and neither the world nor any region is on track. Even if earlier trends resumed, the risk would reach about 16.3% by 2030.
More than three quarters of deaths from cardiovascular disease occur in low- and middle-income countries, where people are less likely to have their risk detected early in primary care.
Source: World Health Organization, 2025Two-thirds of adults aged 30–79 with hypertension live in low- and middle-income countries. Among WHO regions, the share of adults with hypertension is highest in the Eastern Mediterranean (38%) and lowest in the Western Pacific (29%).
Source: World Health Organization, 2025Only 7 of 25 low-income countries (28%) reported that all WHO-recommended blood pressure medicines were generally available, compared with 93% of high-income countries.
Source: World Health Organization, 2025In 2019 a 30-year-old man had a 21.6% risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes or chronic respiratory disease before age 70, compared with 14.4% for a woman.
Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2025Each country is shaded by its latest available value, so you can see where the gap is widest. Hover or tap a country, search for one, or open the full table.
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Values in per 100,000 people.
WHO modelled estimates (Global Health Estimates) of deaths from all cardiovascular diseases, age-standardised so that countries with older and younger populations can be compared. All values are for 2021, the latest year in this dataset, and include the COVID-19 period; for countries with incomplete death registration they rely heavily on modelling, and small island states can show extreme values.
Source: WHO Global Health Estimates, via Our World in Data. Latest year available per country; years differ.
Values load from Our World in Data. Simplified Natural Earth borders; they imply no position on disputed territories.
Instead of one “percent solved” score, DO GOOD rates three separate dimensions. A problem can have mature solutions that still reach too few people. These ratings are an editorial reading of the sources on this page, not a measured index.
Has the situation improved in the real world?
ModerateThe risk of dying early from the four main noncommunicable diseases fell from 22.5% in 2000 to 18.0% in 2019. Yet an estimated 18 million people under 70 still died of these diseases in 2021, with cardiovascular disease the largest cause, and the number of adults with hypertension keeps rising.
How mature and validated are the available solutions?
HighThe tools are well established: inexpensive medicines such as blood pressure drugs, aspirin and statins, and policies on salt, trans fat and tobacco. Evidence from 18 countries shows that hypertension programmes can be run efficiently and cost-effectively in primary care.
How widely are effective solutions actually used?
LowOnly just over one in five adults with hypertension has it under control, and in 99 of 195 countries and territories the national control rate is below 20%. In low-income countries, the recommended blood pressure medicines are often not generally available.
Global figures are WHO modelled estimates built from death registration, surveys and statistical models. WHO names insufficient information systems for monitoring hypertension trends as a barrier, and the UN can describe recent trends only for countries with reliable data.
The decline in premature deaths from noncommunicable diseases slowed after 2015 and levelled off in 2020–2021. There are bright spots: in some regions of Bangladesh hypertension control rose from 15% to 56% between 2019 and 2025, and the Republic of Korea reached 59% control nationally in 2022.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are disorders of the heart and blood vessels, including coronary heart disease, stroke and other cerebrovascular disease, rheumatic and congenital heart disease. WHO estimates that they killed 19.8 million people in 2022, about 32% of all deaths worldwide, and that 85% of these deaths were caused by heart attacks and strokes. These events usually happen when fatty deposits build up inside blood vessels and block the flow of blood to the heart or brain. Most CVDs can be prevented by tackling shared risk factors: unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco, harmful alcohol use and air pollution, which show up as raised blood pressure, blood sugar and blood fats, and overweight.
High blood pressure (hypertension) is one of the most important of these risks. An estimated 1.4 billion adults aged 30–79 had it in 2024, up from 650 million in 1990, and most feel no symptoms, so about 44% do not know they have it. Left uncontrolled, it can cause heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure. More than three quarters of CVD deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, where people often lack primary health care that could detect and treat risk early, so illness is found late and people die younger. WHO notes that CVDs and other noncommunicable diseases push households into poverty through catastrophic health spending.
Most countries do not record every death and its cause reliably, so global figures combine death registration, surveys and statistical modelling. The main measures used on this page are:
Cardiovascular deaths
Deaths from any disease of the heart or blood vessels, estimated by WHO in its Global Health Estimates. To compare countries with younger and older populations, rates are age-standardised: they show how many people per 100,000 would die if every country had the same age structure.
Hypertension
Blood pressure of 140/90 mmHg or higher, measured on two different days: a systolic (upper) reading of at least 140 and/or a diastolic (lower) reading of at least 90 on both days. Global prevalence estimates cover adults aged 30–79.
Awareness, treatment and control
Among adults with hypertension, WHO tracks how many have been diagnosed, how many are being treated and how many have brought their blood pressure below the treatment target. Control is the measure that matters most for preventing heart attacks and strokes.
Premature deaths from noncommunicable diseases
SDG indicator 3.4.1 is the probability that a 30-year-old dies before the age of 70 from cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes or chronic respiratory disease. Cardiovascular disease is the largest of these four causes.
What works
WHO's HEARTS package, launched in 2016, helps countries treat hypertension in primary care with simple standard treatment protocols, team-based care, reliable medicine supplies and monitoring. More than 13.5 million people in over 40 low- and middle-income countries have been put on protocol-based hypertension treatment.
Limits
That is still a small share of the 1.4 billion adults with hypertension, and protocols only work where primary care teams are trained and medicine supplies are reliable.
What works
Making blood pressure medicines cheap and covering them in basic health benefits raises control rates. The Republic of Korea combined low-cost medicines with limited patient fees and reached 59% control in 2022, and Bangladesh added hypertension treatment to its essential health service package.
Limits
Medicines are often unavailable or costly: only 28% of low-income countries reported that all WHO-recommended blood pressure medicines were generally available, compared with 93% of high-income countries.
What works
Trans fat from partially hydrogenated oils raises the risk of coronary heart disease and contributes to more than 278,000 deaths a year. WHO recommends a limit of 2 g of trans fat per 100 g of total fat in all foods, a ban on partially hydrogenated oils, or both; nearly 60 countries covering 46% of the world's population have such policies.
Limits
More than half of the world's population is not yet covered, and only nine countries have been validated by WHO as also having strong monitoring and enforcement.
What works
High sodium intake is linked to about 1.9 million deaths a year. WHO recommends less than 2 g of sodium a day, and eating less salt lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Limits
Average intake was estimated at 4.3 g of sodium a day in 2019, more than double the recommendation, and progress towards the agreed 30% reduction in population sodium intake by 2030 has been slow.
What works
Stopping tobacco use, eating less salt, more fruit and vegetables, regular physical activity and avoiding harmful alcohol use lower cardiovascular risk. Global tobacco use has fallen by about a third over two decades.
Limits
About 1.25 billion people still use tobacco, and only 56 countries were on track for a 30% cut in tobacco use between 2010 and 2025. The UN notes that tobacco, air pollution and poor diet remain insufficiently addressed.
Promising, but not proven at scale. The stage shows how far each approach has come; it is not a recommendation.
In January 2025 WHO published a guideline on lower-sodium salt substitutes, which replace part of the sodium in table salt, often with potassium chloride, while tasting similar. They offer a way to cut sodium without asking people to change what they eat. WHO flags a risk of harmful potassium levels for people with impaired kidney function, and how substitutes are best introduced into national food supplies is still being worked out.
Some countries are moving hypertension care from hospitals into community-level primary care. The Philippines has built HEARTS into community services nationwide, and in some regions of Bangladesh, which embedded treatment in its essential service package and strengthened screening and follow-up, control rose from 15% to 56% between 2019 and 2025. Whether such results hold when programmes reach whole countries is not yet known.
WHO now validates countries that not only have a best-practice trans-fat policy but also monitor and enforce it. Nine countries had been validated by May 2025: Denmark, Lithuania, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Austria, Norway, Oman and Singapore.
Implementation gap
High blood pressure rarely causes symptoms, and an estimated 600 million adults with hypertension, 44% of the total, do not know they have it. Finding them depends on regular blood pressure checks in primary care.
Implementation gap
Only 28% of low-income countries reported general availability of all WHO-recommended hypertension medicines, against 93% of high-income countries. WHO also points to unreliable supply chains, costly medicines and limited access to validated blood pressure devices.
Coordination gap
WHO names weak health promotion policies on alcohol, tobacco, physical inactivity, salt and trans fat as a persistent barrier.
Implementation gap
People in many low- and middle-income countries lack primary health care programmes that detect risk early. WHO points to missing standard treatment protocols and too few trained primary care teams, which makes the lifelong follow-up that blood pressure control needs hard to deliver.
Coordination gap
Cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension, are projected to cost low- and middle-income countries about US$3.7 trillion between 2011 and 2025, around 2% of their combined GDP, and many patients lack financial protection against the cost of care.
Knowledge gap
WHO lists insufficient information systems to monitor hypertension trends as a barrier, and the UN can track recent changes in premature deaths only in countries with reliable death registration, so many countries cannot see whether their programmes are working.
Unresolved questions, not vetted breakthroughs. Answering any of them would change what is possible.
The fall in premature deaths from noncommunicable diseases slowed after 2015 and levelled off in 2020–2021. How much of this reflects rising risk factors, gaps in treatment, the COVID-19 pandemic or weaker data, and does it differ between countries?
Which approaches, such as opportunistic checks at every clinic visit, community health workers or self-measurement with validated devices, find the most people with high blood pressure at the lowest cost, and keep them in care afterwards?
How large are the benefits of potassium-enriched salt when it replaces regular salt across a whole food supply, and how can people with impaired kidney function be protected from harmful potassium levels?
Age-standardised death rates from cardiovascular disease differ several-fold between countries. How much of the gap comes from diet, tobacco, air pollution and other risks, and how much from access to diagnosis and treatment?
Most people with high blood pressure feel nothing. Have your blood pressure checked regularly, and if it is high, follow up with a health worker and take any medicine as prescribed rather than stopping when you feel well.
Eat more vegetables and fruit, limit salty and processed foods and foods high in saturated or trans fat, and aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week. Avoid tobacco and limit alcohol.
Rules on salt in processed food, trans-fat limits and tobacco taxes protect whole populations. Responding to public consultations or telling elected representatives that you support them is one way to back these policies.
Organisations that help health systems in low- and middle-income countries detect and treat high blood pressure rely on funding. Look for groups that publish control rates and independent evaluations before you give.
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World Health Organization (31 July 2025), published 2025
WHO's overview of cardiovascular diseases. Source of the 19.8 million deaths in 2022 (32% of all deaths, 85% from heart attacks and stroke), the share of deaths in low- and middle-income countries, the definition and types of CVD, risk factors, medicines, the link to catastrophic health spending, the 2016 HEARTS initiative and the evidence from 18 countries on cost-effective hypertension programmes.
World Health Organization (25 September 2025), published 2025
WHO's overview of hypertension with 2024 estimates from the Global report on hypertension 2025. Source of the 1.4 billion adults aged 30–79 (33%), the rise from 650 million in 1990, awareness (44% unaware), treatment (44%) and control (23%), the regional range, the definition, risk factors, prevention advice and the 13.5 million people on protocol-based treatment through HEARTS.
World Health Organization (news release, 23 September 2025), published 2025
WHO's release summarising its second global report on hypertension, covering 195 countries and territories. Source of the 1.4 billion people with hypertension in 2024 and "just over one in five" with control, the 99 countries with control rates below 20%, medicine availability (28% of low-income vs 93% of high-income countries), the US$3.7 trillion projected cost, the barriers WHO identifies, and the examples of Bangladesh, the Philippines and the Republic of Korea.
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, published 2025
UN progress report on SDG 3. Source of the probability of dying from the four main noncommunicable diseases between ages 30 and 70 (22.5% in 2000, 18.4% in 2015, 18.0% in 2019, 16.3% projected for 2030), the plateau in 2020–2021, the differences between men and women, the off-track status and the tobacco figures. The 2026 edition's Goal 3 page does not report on noncommunicable diseases.
World Health Organization (news release, 19 May 2025), published 2025
Source of the number of countries with best-practice trans-fat policies (nearly 60, covering 46% of the world's population, up from 11 countries and 6% seven years earlier), the more than 278,000 deaths a year, WHO's policy definition and the nine countries validated in 2024 and 2025.
World Health Organization (27 January 2025), published 2025
WHO page launching its 2025 guideline on salt substitutes. Source of the 1.9 million deaths a year attributable to high sodium intake, the recommendation of less than 2 g of sodium a day, the estimated mean intake of 4.3 g a day in 2019, the 30% reduction target, how salt substitutes work and the risk for people with impaired kidney function.