Hepatitis B can be prevented with a vaccine and hepatitis C can be cured with a short course of pills, yet together they still kill about 1.3 million people a year, mostly because few people are tested and treated.
Updated October 15, 2026. Written from the sources listed below, not independently peer-reviewed.
Out of every 100 people living with chronic hepatitis B, roughly how many were receiving antiviral treatment in 2024?
1.3 million
Deaths from hepatitis B and C
About 1.1 million deaths from hepatitis B, 17% more than in 2015, and about 240,000 from hepatitis C, 12% fewer than in 2015. Most were caused by cirrhosis and liver cancer.
Data year 2024. Source: World Health Organization, 2026
240 million
People living with chronic hepatitis B
About 2.9% of the world's population. Another 47 million people (0.6%) were living with hepatitis C infection.
Data year 2024. Source: World Health Organization, 2026
43%
Newborns vaccinated against hepatitis B within 24 hours of birth
77% in the WHO Western Pacific Region, but only 11% in the WHO African Region. 119 Member States had introduced the birth dose by 2025.
Data year 2025. Source: World Health Organization, 2026
Unit: % of one-year-olds (world)
World averages calculated by the World Bank from WHO/UNICEF estimates of national coverage. Coverage rose quickly in the 2000s but has barely moved since 2015. This measure does not include the birth dose, which is the main protection against infection from mother to child and reaches far fewer newborns.
SDG target 3.3 calls for combating hepatitis by 2030, and WHO's goal is to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat by then. WHO's 2026 report finds progress off track. New chronic hepatitis B infections fell by 32% between 2015 and 2024, against a 2030 target of 95%, and new hepatitis C infections fell by only 8%, against a target of 80%. Hepatitis B deaths rose by 17% over the same period, and WHO says the target of cutting hepatitis deaths by 65% compared with 2015 will not be met without a rapid scale-up of testing and treatment. Chronic hepatitis B among children under five fell from 0.8% to 0.6%, against a target of 0.1%, although 85 countries have already reached that level.
The burden of hepatitis B is highest in the WHO Western Pacific Region, where 102 million people live with chronic infection, and the WHO African Region, with 64 million, compared with 5 million in the Americas.
Source: World Health Organization, 2026Young children in Africa are least protected: in most countries of the WHO African Region more than 1% of children under five live with chronic hepatitis B, against 0.6% worldwide, and in 2025, 20 of the region's 47 countries had not introduced the birth-dose vaccine.
Source: World Health Organization, 2026People who inject drugs account for around 44% of new hepatitis C infections worldwide, yet on average only 35 needles and syringes per person who injects drugs were distributed each year, against a 2030 target of 300.
Source: World Health Organization, 2026The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region has the most people living with chronic hepatitis C, about 12 million, followed by the South-East Asia and European regions with about 9 million each.
Source: World Health Organization, 2026Each 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 % of one-year-olds.
Shown as 100 minus WHO/UNICEF estimates of coverage with three doses of hepatitis B vaccine, for the latest year available in each country (years may differ). It reflects protection of infants, not the number of people living with hepatitis, and it does not show the birth dose, which matters most against transmission from mother to child and is much lower in many countries.
Source: WHO/UNICEF estimates of national immunization coverage, via World Bank Open Data. Latest year available per country; years differ.
Values load from World Bank Open 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?
ModerateVaccination has cut hepatitis B in young children, and new chronic hepatitis B infections fell by 32% between 2015 and 2024. But deaths from hepatitis B rose by 17% over the same period, and new hepatitis C infections fell by only 8%.
How mature and validated are the available solutions?
HighThe hepatitis B vaccine gives nearly 100% protection, and direct-acting antivirals cure more than 95% of people with hepatitis C. The main gap is hepatitis B treatment, which slows liver damage but for most people has to be taken for life.
How widely are effective solutions actually used?
LowFewer than 5% of people living with chronic hepatitis B were on treatment in 2024, and only 20% of people eligible for hepatitis C treatment had received it since 2015. In 2024, 11 million people diagnosed with hepatitis C had not started treatment.
Global figures are WHO estimates that combine country data with modelling and carry wide uncertainty: the 11 million people diagnosed with hepatitis C but not treated, for example, has a range of 7.4 to 15 million. Because most infections are undiagnosed, figures on people living with hepatitis and on deaths are less certain than vaccination coverage.
Infections among children keep falling as vaccination spreads, and hepatitis C deaths have begun to decline. Hepatitis B deaths are still rising, and diagnosis and treatment are growing far too slowly to meet the 2030 targets.
Hepatitis B and C are viruses that infect the liver. Many people carry them for years without symptoms, while the infection slowly damages the liver and can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer. Together the two viruses cause more than 95% of deaths related to viral hepatitis. WHO estimates that in 2024 about 240 million people were living with chronic hepatitis B and about 47 million with chronic hepatitis C, and that about 1.3 million people died of cirrhosis and liver cancer linked to the two infections. The tools to change this exist: a hepatitis B vaccine that gives nearly complete protection, oral medicines that control hepatitis B, and direct-acting antiviral pills that cure more than 95% of people with hepatitis C.
Hepatitis B is most often passed from mother to child at birth in places where the virus is common, and infection in infancy becomes chronic in about 95% of cases, compared with fewer than 5% of infections acquired as an adult. The WHO African Region accounted for 68% of new chronic hepatitis B infections in 2024, yet only 11% of newborns there received a vaccine dose within 24 hours of birth in 2025. Hepatitis C spreads mainly through blood, through unsafe injections and procedures in health care, unscreened transfusions and shared injecting equipment; people who inject drugs account for about 44% of new infections. Most people living with either virus have not been diagnosed, and fewer than 5% of people with chronic hepatitis B were receiving treatment in 2024.
Many infections cause no symptoms and are never diagnosed, so WHO's global figures are estimates that combine data reported by countries with modelling. The main measures are:
People living with chronic infection
The estimated number of people with long-lasting hepatitis B or C infection. For hepatitis B this is measured with blood tests for the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg); for hepatitis C, infection is confirmed by an RNA test, because about 30% of people clear the virus on their own and still test positive for antibodies.
New infections and deaths
Modelled estimates of how many people are newly infected each year (counted for hepatitis B as new chronic infections) and how many die of cirrhosis and liver cancer caused by the two viruses. Global targets for 2030 are set as reductions compared with 2015.
Hepatitis B in children under five
The share of children under five with chronic hepatitis B shows how well vaccination at birth and in infancy is working. The 2030 target is 0.1%.
Testing and treatment coverage
The share of people living with each infection who know their status, and the share who have been treated. For hepatitis B, treatment usually continues for life; for hepatitis C, it is counted as people who have received curative treatment.
What works
Vaccinating infants protects them against an infection that very often becomes chronic when caught early in life. By the end of 2025 the vaccine had been introduced nationwide for infants in 190 Member States, and global coverage with three doses was estimated at 84%.
Limits
Vaccination prevents new infections but does not help people already living with chronic hepatitis B. About one in six infants still miss the three doses, and the birth dose, which matters most where mothers can pass on the virus, reaches only 43% of newborns.
What works
Transmission at birth, the main route of infection where hepatitis B is common, can be prevented with a first vaccine dose within 24 hours of birth, together with antiviral medicine for mothers who need it. WHO recommends testing all pregnant women for hepatitis B so that these steps can be taken.
Limits
By 2025 only 119 Member States had introduced the birth dose. Coverage was 43% worldwide and 11% in the WHO African Region, compared with 77% in the Western Pacific Region.
What works
A short course of direct-acting antiviral pills, usually 12 to 24 weeks, cures more than 95% of people, and generic medicines cost less than US$50 per course in many low- and middle-income countries. Trained nurses and non-specialist doctors can deliver testing and treatment.
Limits
Only 36% of people infected in 2015–2024 had been diagnosed, about 13 million people had been treated by the end of 2024, and 11 million people who had been diagnosed had not started treatment. Pan-genotypic medicines remain expensive in many upper-middle- and high-income countries.
What works
Oral medicines such as tenofovir or entecavir suppress the virus, slow the progress of cirrhosis, reduce liver cancer and improve long-term survival.
Limits
Most people must take treatment for life. In 2024 only about 10 million people, 4.3% of those living with chronic hepatitis B, were on treatment, although more than half are estimated to need it under WHO's 2024 guidelines.
What works
Screening all donated blood, using sterile injection equipment in health care and providing clean needles and syringes and other harm-reduction services for people who inject drugs prevent new infections with both viruses.
Limits
Only 35 needles and syringes per person who injects drugs were distributed each year on average, far below the 2030 target of 300, and people who inject drugs account for around 44% of new hepatitis C infections.
Promising, but not proven at scale. The stage shows how far each approach has come; it is not a recommendation.
Bepirovirsen, an antisense medicine given as weekly injections for 24 weeks, was tested in two phase 3 trials with 1,838 people already on standard hepatitis B treatment and without cirrhosis. About 20% achieved a functional cure, meaning surface antigen loss and undetectable virus 24 weeks after treatment ended, compared with none on placebo. Results were published in 2026. The medicine is not yet approved, the trials only included people with lower antigen levels, and how long the response lasts beyond the trial period remains to be shown.
Confirming an active hepatitis C infection needs an RNA test, which can now be run on a simple point-of-care machine in the clinic instead of only in a laboratory. Combined with treatment by trained nurses and non-specialist doctors, this lets people be tested and treated closer to home. With only about a third of infected people diagnosed, this simplified model is still far from reaching everyone who needs it.
Under WHO's 2024 guidelines, more than half of people with chronic hepatitis B are estimated to need treatment, far more than the 4.3% who were receiving it in 2024. Turning this into practice means testing many more people and keeping a supply of medicine for life, so whether programmes can expand on this scale is not yet clear.
Implementation gap
In 2024 only 65 million people, 27% of those living with hepatitis B, knew they were infected. Most people have no symptoms when first infected, and in low-income settings most people with liver cancer are diagnosed late and die within months.
Implementation gap
11 million people diagnosed with hepatitis C had not started treatment by 2024, and fewer than 5% of people with chronic hepatitis B were receiving treatment. Many people are lost between a positive test, confirmation of active infection and the start of treatment.
Coordination gap
The African Region carries 68% of new chronic hepatitis B infections, yet in 2025, 20 of its 47 countries had not introduced the birth-dose vaccine. Reaching babies within 24 hours depends on maternity, immunization and hepatitis programmes working together.
Technology gap
Current hepatitis B medicines slow liver damage, but most people who start them must continue for life. Candidate treatments that could end infection after a fixed course are still investigational and, so far, work in a minority of people.
Technology gap
There is no effective vaccine against hepatitis C, so prevention depends on safe health care, screened blood and harm reduction.
Coordination gap
People who inject drugs account for about 44% of new hepatitis C infections, but an average of only 35 needles and syringes per person were distributed each year, about a tenth of the 2030 target of 300. Expanding these services requires health, justice and social policy to work together.
Unresolved questions, not vetted breakthroughs. Answering any of them would change what is possible.
New medicines achieve functional cure in a minority of carefully selected people. Will the response last, can combinations work for people with high virus or antigen levels, and could a cure eventually be affordable in the countries with the most infections?
The virus is highly variable, and no vaccine has proved effective. Could a vaccine that prevents chronic infection, even if not all infection, be developed, and how much would it add to cure-based strategies?
Which mix of testing in antenatal care, primary care, workplaces, community campaigns and self-testing finds the most undiagnosed people at an affordable cost, and how can they be kept in care afterwards?
Would offering treatment to almost everyone with chronic hepatitis B in high-burden, low-resource settings save more lives than careful selection based on tests that are often unavailable, and what would it cost health systems over decades?
A blood test can show whether you have hepatitis B or C. It is worth asking for one if you grew up in a region where hepatitis B is common, have ever injected drugs, received blood or medical injections in places with poor infection control, are pregnant or are living with HIV.
The hepatitis B vaccine protects for at least 20 years and probably for life. Babies should receive the first dose within 24 hours of birth, and adults who were never vaccinated can ask a health worker whether they should be.
Use person-first language such as "people living with hepatitis B", and treat people living with hepatitis with respect at work, at school and in the family, including when they share their diagnosis.
Organisations that bring testing, treatment and harm-reduction services to underserved groups rely on donations and political support. Look for groups that publish data on the people they reach before you give, and tell elected representatives that you support funding for hepatitis elimination.
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World Health Organization (28 April 2026), published 2026
WHO's report page with key facts from the Global hepatitis report 2026, covering 2015–2024 and based on data from 140 Member States and model-based estimates. Source of the 240 million (2.9%) and 47 million (0.6%) people living with hepatitis B and C, the 1.3 million deaths (1.1 million hepatitis B, +17% since 2015; 240,000 hepatitis C, −12%), new infections and their declines, the African Region's 68% share, treatment coverage, the 11 million diagnosed but untreated, under-five prevalence (0.8% in 2015, 0.6% in 2024; 85 countries at target), the 20 of 47 African countries without a birth dose, the 44% share of people who inject drugs and the 35 needles and syringes against a target of 300.
World Health Organization (28 July 2026), published 2026
WHO's overview of hepatitis B with 2024 estimates. Source of transmission routes, the 95% versus under 5% risk of chronic infection by age, regional numbers, under-five prevalence by region (1.4% African Region), diagnosis (65 million, 27%), treatment (10 million, 4.3%; more than 50% needing treatment under the 2024 guidelines), lifelong treatment with tenofovir or entecavir, vaccine protection and schedule, testing recommendations and the 7.4% prevalence among people living with HIV.
World Health Organization (28 July 2026), published 2026
WHO's overview of hepatitis C with 2024 estimates. Source of transmission routes, spontaneous clearance (about 30%), regional numbers (12 million in the Eastern Mediterranean Region), diagnosis (36% of people infected in 2015–2024), the more than 95% cure rate, 12–24 week treatment, generic treatment for under US$50, point-of-care RNA testing, simplified care by non-specialists and the absence of a vaccine.
World Health Organization (15 July 2026), published 2026
WHO's summary of the WHO/UNICEF immunization estimates for 2025. Source of hepatitis B vaccine introduction in 190 Member States, 84% global three-dose coverage, birth-dose introduction in 119 Member States and birth-dose coverage of 43% worldwide, 77% in the Western Pacific Region and 11% in the African Region.
World Bank Open Data, from WHO/UNICEF estimates, published 2025
Annual world averages of three-dose hepatitis B vaccine coverage among one-year-olds, latest year 2024. Source of the trend points for 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2024.
Healio (9 June 2026), reporting Hou J et al., New England Journal of Medicine 2026, published 2026
News report on the B-Well 1 and B-Well 2 phase 3 trials published in the New England Journal of Medicine (doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2515131). Source of the 1,838 participants, the 24-week weekly injection schedule, the definition of functional cure, the 20% (B-Well 1) and 19% (B-Well 2) functional cure rates against 0% with placebo, the trial population and the investigational status.