More than 1.5 billion people live with some hearing loss and about 430 million need rehabilitation for disabling hearing loss, yet most people who could benefit from a hearing aid do not have one, and many causes, from ear infections to loud noise, are preventable.
Written from the sources listed below, not independently peer-reviewed.
Hearing aids are one of the main ways to treat hearing loss. Out of every 100 people worldwide who could benefit from one, about how many go without?
430 million
People who need rehabilitation for disabling hearing loss
Over 5% of the world's population, including 34 million children. Modelled estimate for 2019, used in WHO's 2026 fact sheet.
Data year 2019. Source: World Health Organization, 2026
83%
Gap between need for and access to hearing care
Measured by how many people who would benefit from a hearing aid do not use one. Global estimate from the World report on hearing.
Data year 2019. Source: Bulletin of the World Health Organization 99(4):242–242A, 2021
38%
Newborns with no or minimal hearing screening
Survey of contacts in 158 countries covering nearly 95% of the world's population, with reference years from 2009 to 2019.
Data year 2019. Source: Journal of Clinical Medicine 11(1):271, 2022
Unit: million people
* Projection, not a measurement. Modelled Global Burden of Disease estimates for 1990 and 2019 (the 2019 value is the one adjusted for hearing aid use; without adjustment it is 430.4 million) and a projection for 2050, for which the paper does not state the adjustment. The rise is driven by population growth and ageing: the age-standardised prevalence of all hearing loss stayed almost unchanged, at 19.1% in 1990 and 19.3% in 2019.
Hearing care falls under SDG target 3.8 on universal health coverage. Following the World report on hearing, WHO set three targets for 2030: a 20% relative increase in effective coverage of newborn hearing screening, a 20% relative increase in effective coverage of hearing technology among adults with hearing loss, and a 20% relative reduction in chronic ear disease and unaddressed hearing loss among children aged 5 to 9. Countries with coverage below 50% are asked to reach at least 50%. No global estimate of progress towards these targets was found; few countries measure coverage regularly.
Nearly 80% of people with disabling hearing loss live in low- and middle-income countries.
Source: World Health Organization, 2026Hearing loss is concentrated in later life: 62% of people with hearing loss in 2019 were older than 50. In children under five, most hearing loss (64%) was attributed to middle ear infections (otitis media).
Source: The Lancet 397:996–1009, 2021Countries that screen at least 85% of newborns have median living standards about ten times higher than countries that screen fewer than 10%. Unscreened children with hearing loss are diagnosed at about 35 months on average, compared with under 5 months for screened children.
Source: Journal of Clinical Medicine 11(1):271, 2022About 24% of adolescents and young adults listen to personal audio devices at unsafe levels, and an estimated 48% are exposed to unsafe sound at clubs, bars and concerts.
Source: BMJ Global Health 7(11):e010501, 2022Instead 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?
LowThe number of people with moderate to complete hearing loss rose from about 225 million in 1990 to about 403 million in 2019, mainly because populations grew and aged, and most of those who could benefit from a hearing aid still do not have one.
How mature and validated are the available solutions?
HighPrevention through immunization and childcare, screening, hearing aids, cochlear implants and communication support are well established. WHO estimates that scaling up ear and hearing care would return nearly US$16 for every dollar invested over ten years.
How widely are effective solutions actually used?
LowWHO estimates an 83% gap between need and access to hearing care, most low-income countries have less than one ear, nose and throat specialist per million people, and 38% of newborns get little or no hearing screening.
Prevalence is modelled from a limited number of hearing surveys, the authors of the main estimates describe data on hearing aid coverage as particularly sparse, and the screening figures come from a survey of country contacts spanning 2009 to 2019.
The share of people with hearing loss at a given age is stable, and WHO has set concrete 2030 targets. But the number of people affected keeps growing with population ageing, and about 2.45 billion people are projected to have some hearing loss by 2050.
Hearing loss ranges from mild difficulty following a conversation to profound deafness. WHO estimates that more than 1.5 billion people live with some degree of hearing loss and that about 430 million, over 5% of the world's population and including 34 million children, have disabling hearing loss that calls for rehabilitation. Most hearing loss in adults builds up with age: more than a quarter of people over 60 are affected by disabling hearing loss. Other causes include genetic factors, infections before birth such as rubella, complications around birth, chronic ear infections and meningitis in childhood, loud noise, and medicines or workplace chemicals that damage the ear. When it is not addressed, hearing loss limits access to education and work, can lead to loneliness, isolation and stigma, and is linked to a higher risk of dementia and faster cognitive decline. WHO puts the global cost of unaddressed hearing loss at almost US$1 trillion a year.
Nearly 80% of people with disabling hearing loss live in low- and middle-income countries, where services are scarcest. In most low-income countries there is less than one ear, nose and throat specialist, and less than one audiologist, per million people. Children who are not screened at birth are, on average, diagnosed with hearing loss at almost three years of age, long after the period that matters most for learning language. At the same time, a growing and ageing population is pushing up the number of people affected: WHO projects that by 2050 nearly 2.5 billion people will have some hearing loss and more than 700 million will need rehabilitation, while over 1 billion young people risk avoidable hearing loss from loud music and venues.
Few countries test hearing in national surveys, so global figures are mostly modelled from a limited number of studies. The main measures are:
Hearing thresholds
A person whose hearing threshold is 20 decibels or better in both ears has normal hearing. WHO counts hearing loss as disabling when it is greater than 35 decibels in the better-hearing ear; this is the group that typically needs rehabilitation such as hearing aids.
Hard of hearing and deaf
People who are hard of hearing have mild to severe loss and usually communicate through spoken language, often with hearing aids or captions. Deaf people mostly have profound hearing loss, and many use sign language. Both groups are counted in prevalence estimates.
Modelled prevalence
The global estimates of 1.57 billion people with any hearing loss and 430 million with moderate or worse loss in 2019 come from the Global Burden of Disease study, which models all countries from a limited number of population studies with hearing tests.
Effective coverage of hearing care
WHO uses hearing aid use among people who would benefit as a tracer for whether ear and hearing care reaches people. For newborn screening, a country is usually said to have universal screening when at least 85% of babies are screened.
What works
Hearing aids, cochlear implants and other implantable devices restore access to sound for most people with hearing loss, especially when fitting is combined with rehabilitation such as speech and language therapy.
Limits
Devices must be fitted and maintained by trained staff, and access is very uneven: WHO estimates that 83% of people who could benefit from a hearing aid do not use one.
What works
Screening at birth with simple tests lets hearing loss be found early. In a survey of 158 countries, children identified through screening were diagnosed at an average of 4.6 months and started treatment at 6.7 months, compared with about 35 and 37 months for children who were not screened.
Limits
Screening only helps if diagnosis and care follow. On average 17% of babies who failed screening were lost to follow-up, and in nearly half of the 27 countries with reliable data the loss exceeded 30%.
What works
WHO estimates that nearly 60% of hearing loss in children has avoidable causes. Immunization against rubella and meningitis, good maternal and newborn care, genetic counselling and early treatment of ear infections can prevent much of it.
Limits
These measures depend on functioning primary and maternal health services, which are weakest where childhood hearing loss is most common.
What works
Hearing conservation programmes at work, safe-listening measures in recreational settings, and WHO standards for personal audio devices and video games aim to keep sound exposure below harmful levels.
Limits
Much exposure happens in leisure time and depends on personal habits: about 24% of young people listen to personal devices at unsafe levels, and evidence on what changes this behaviour at scale is limited.
What works
Sign language, speech reading, captioning, interpretation and alerting devices allow deaf and hard of hearing people to take part in education, work and public life, whether or not they use hearing technology.
Limits
These services rely on trained interpreters and teachers and on public bodies providing them, and their availability varies widely between and within countries.
Promising, but not proven at scale. The stage shows how far each approach has come; it is not a recommendation.
WHO's hearWHO and WHOears apps let people check their own hearing or let health workers with limited training screen others in clinics and communities. They can widen the first step of care, but people who screen positive still need diagnosis and fitting that many areas lack.
The World report on hearing promotes task sharing, in which trained primary and community health workers take on tasks such as screening and basic ear care, and telemedicine, in which specialists support them remotely. Evidence on how well these models deliver diagnosis and hearing aid fitting at scale in low-income settings is still limited.
WHO and the International Telecommunication Union have published a standard for personal audio systems and devices, and WHO added one for video gaming in 2025, to help users keep their sound exposure within safe limits. How widely manufacturers apply them, and whether they reduce hearing loss, has not yet been measured.
Implementation gap
In 78% of the low-income countries surveyed there is less than one ear, nose and throat specialist per million people, and in 93% less than one audiologist per million.
Coordination gap
Many health systems do not include ear and hearing care in their universal health coverage packages or offer it at primary and secondary level, where it is most needed. WHO estimates that an extra US$1.33 per person a year would be enough to raise coverage to 90%.
Implementation gap
Stigmatising attitudes about hearing loss and ear disease, and limited knowledge among both the public and health workers about prevention and early detection, keep people from seeking or receiving care.
Implementation gap
On average 17% of babies who fail a hearing screen are lost to follow-up, so screening programmes often do not lead to diagnosis and treatment.
Knowledge gap
Data on hearing aid coverage are particularly sparse, and few countries test hearing in population surveys, which makes it hard to set priorities or track progress towards the 2030 targets.
Technology gap
Screening can now be done with simple tools, but confirming a diagnosis and fitting devices usually still needs equipment and specialists that are rare outside cities, and low-cost ways to do this in communities are not yet routine.
Unresolved questions, not vetted breakthroughs. Answering any of them would change what is possible.
Unaddressed hearing loss is linked to a higher risk of dementia and faster cognitive decline, but how much hearing aids or implants reduce that risk, and for whom, is still being studied.
It is unclear which tasks community and primary health workers can take on, with what training and remote support, while keeping fitting quality and long-term use high in low-income settings.
Loss to follow-up undermines newborn screening in many countries. Which mix of tracking systems, local services and family support reliably gets children to diagnosis and early intervention is not well established.
Unsafe listening is common among adolescents and young adults, but there is little evidence on whether device warnings, venue limits or campaigns reduce exposure enough to prevent hearing loss over a lifetime.
Use a free screening app such as WHO's hearWHO, or ask a health worker for a hearing test, especially if you are over 50, work in noise, or find conversations hard to follow.
Keep personal audio at moderate volume, take breaks, use noise-limiting settings on your phone or headphones, and wear ear protection at concerts, in clubs or in noisy jobs.
Make sure children receive recommended vaccines, including against rubella and meningitis, and seek care for ear pain or discharge rather than waiting for it to pass.
Turn on captions in videos and meetings, face people when you speak, and support local organisations of deaf and hard of hearing people, for example by learning some sign language.
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World Health Organization (updated 3 March 2026), published 2026
Current WHO global figures on hearing loss: 430 million people needing rehabilitation, 34 million children, nearly 80% in low- and middle-income countries, over 25% of people over 60, nearly 60% of childhood loss avoidable, over 1 billion young adults at risk, almost US$1 trillion annual cost, 2050 projections, causes, definitions and WHO tools.
Bulletin of the World Health Organization 99(4):242–242A (Chadha, Kamenov, Cieza), published 2021
WHO authors' summary of the World report on hearing (March 2021): the 83% gap between need and access measured by hearing aid use, workforce shortages in low-income countries, the US$1.33 per capita investment and return of about US$16 per dollar, stigma and lack of information, and the integrated people-centred care approach.
The Lancet 397:996–1009 (GBD 2019 Hearing Loss Collaborators), published 2021
The modelled estimates behind WHO's figures: 1.57 billion people with hearing loss in 2019, moderate to complete loss rising from 225.3 million in 1990 to 403.3 million in 2019, projections to 2050, stable age-standardised prevalence, age distribution, causes in young children, and sparse coverage data.
Journal of Clinical Medicine 11(1):271 (Neumann, Mathmann, Chadha, Euler, White), published 2022
Survey of 158 countries (nearly 95% of the world's population, reference years 2009–2019) on newborn hearing screening coverage, age at diagnosis and intervention with and without screening, loss to follow-up, and the link between coverage and national living standards.
BMJ Global Health 7(11):e010501 (Dillard, Arunda, Lopez-Perez, Martinez, Jiménez, Chadha), published 2022
Meta-analysis of 33 studies with 19,046 people aged 12–34: about 24% listen to personal devices at unsafe levels, about 48% are exposed to unsafe levels at entertainment venues, and 0.67 to 1.35 billion young people may be at risk of hearing loss.
World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (30 January 2023), published 2023
Sets out the three global 2030 targets for ear and hearing care from the World report on hearing, including the tiered approach for countries with coverage below 50%.
DO GOOD International (2026). Hearing Care for All. Global Challenges. Updated October 15, 2026. https://www.dogood.world/challenges/hearing-loss
For figures, please cite the original sources listed above.