High blood pressure is common, usually silent and cheap to treat, yet fewer than one in four of the 1.4 billion adults who have it are diagnosed, treated and brought under control.
Written from the sources listed below, not independently peer-reviewed.
WHO modelled what would happen if half of all people with high blood pressure had it under control. Roughly how many deaths could be avoided between 2023 and 2050?
1.4 billion
Adults aged 30–79 with hypertension
33% of adults in this age range, up from 650 million people in 1990. WHO modelled estimate.
Data year 2024. Source: World Health Organization, 2025
23%
Share of people with hypertension who have it under control
About 320 million people. 44% do not know they have hypertension, and 44% are diagnosed and treated.
Data year 2024. Source: World Health Organization, 2025
10.8 million
Deaths attributed to high blood pressure each year
About 19% of all deaths, making high blood pressure the leading risk factor for death worldwide. WHO estimate for 2019.
Data year 2019. Source: World Health Organization, 2023
Modelled global estimates published by WHO's Global Health Observatory and distributed by the World Bank; 2019 is the latest year in the series. Treatment coverage roughly doubled, but growth slowed after 2010, and treatment alone does not mean blood pressure is controlled.
Countries agreed a global target to cut the prevalence of uncontrolled hypertension by 25% between 2010 and 2025, which also supports SDG target 3.4 on premature deaths from noncommunicable diseases. By 2024, about 1.4 billion adults had hypertension and only 23% had it under control, and in 99 of 195 countries and territories control was below 20%. WHO's 2023 report used 50% control as its benchmark scenario; at 23%, the world remains far from it.
Two-thirds of adults aged 30–79 with hypertension live in low- and middle-income countries. Among WHO regions, the share with hypertension is highest in the Eastern Mediterranean (38%) and lowest in the Western Pacific (29%).
Source: World Health Organization, 2025In 2019 about 26% of adults with hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa were taking medicine for it, compared with about 70% in North America. In Rwanda, Niger and Vanuatu the modelled rate was below 14%.
Source: World Health Organization Global Health Observatory, via World Bank Open Data, 2026In 99 of the 195 countries and territories covered by WHO's 2025 report, fewer than one in five people with hypertension have it under control.
Source: World Health Organization, 2025Only 7 of 25 low-income countries (28%) reported that all WHO-recommended blood pressure medicines were generally available, against 93% of high-income countries.
Source: World Health Organization, 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.
Loading country values…
Shows 100 minus the share of adults aged 30–79 with hypertension who take blood pressure medicine. These are modelled estimates from WHO's Global Health Observatory; all country values currently refer to 2019, the latest year available. Being treated does not mean blood pressure is controlled, so the share without control is higher everywhere.
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory, 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?
LowThe share of people with hypertension taking medicine roughly doubled from 1990 to 2019, but the number of people with hypertension also doubled, and in 2024 fewer than one in four had it under control.
How mature and validated are the available solutions?
HighDiagnosis needs only a validated blood pressure device, and WHO's guideline names three long-established classes of first-line medicines. WHO issued a treatment guideline in 2021, and its 2023 report estimates that each dollar invested in hypertension programmes returns about 18 in economic benefits.
How widely are effective solutions actually used?
LowSince 2017 about 13.5 million people in more than 40 low- and middle-income countries have been started on protocol-based treatment through WHO's HEARTS programme, a small fraction of the 1.4 billion adults with hypertension.
Estimates rest on measured blood pressure in population surveys and are modelled where surveys are missing. Country-level estimates in open databases end in 2019, and WHO lists weak information systems for tracking hypertension as a barrier.
Global treatment coverage rose only slowly after 2010, but some countries show what is possible: the Republic of Korea reached 59% control in 2022, and control rose from 15% to 56% between 2019 and 2025 in some regions of Bangladesh.
Hypertension means that blood presses too hard against the walls of the arteries. WHO estimates that 1.4 billion adults aged 30–79 had it in 2024, a third of everyone in that age group and more than twice the 650 million of 1990. Most people feel no symptoms, which is why about 600 million of them, 44%, do not know their blood pressure is high. Over years, uncontrolled blood pressure damages the heart, brain and kidneys and leads to heart attacks, heart failure, strokes and kidney failure. WHO's 2023 report attributes about 10.8 million deaths a year to high blood pressure, more than to any other single risk factor.
The problem is less a lack of medicine than a broken chain of care. To benefit, a person has to be measured, diagnosed, started on treatment and then kept on it for life, with regular checks. At each step people drop out: in 2024 only about 44% of adults with hypertension were diagnosed and treated, and 23% had their blood pressure under control. Two-thirds of adults with hypertension live in low- and middle-income countries, where primary care is often stretched, medicines run out and patients pay for treatment themselves. This page focuses on finding and treating high blood pressure; the wider picture of heart attacks and strokes is covered on the cardiovascular disease page.
Global figures come from population surveys in which blood pressure is measured, combined in statistical models to fill gaps between surveys and countries. The main measures are:
Hypertension
A blood pressure of 140/90 mmHg or higher, found on two different days: a systolic (upper) reading of at least 140 and/or a diastolic (lower) reading of at least 90. In population surveys, people who take blood pressure medicine are also counted. Global estimates cover adults aged 30–79.
Diagnosed or aware
The share of people with hypertension who have been told by a health worker that their blood pressure is high. Everyone else is undiagnosed.
Treated
The share of people with hypertension who are taking medicine to lower their blood pressure.
Controlled
The share of all people with hypertension whose treated blood pressure is below the goal, usually below 140/90 mmHg, or below 130/80 for people with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic kidney disease or high cardiovascular risk. Control is the step that prevents heart attacks and strokes.
What works
WHO's HEARTS package gives primary care teams a fixed protocol: which medicines to use, at what dose, and when to step up. It is built around six modules, from lifestyle counselling and treatment protocols to access to medicines, team-based care and monitoring. About 13.5 million people in more than 40 low- and middle-income countries have been started on protocol-based treatment since 2017.
Limits
Protocols help only where medicines are reliably in stock and staff are trained to use them, and a package is not the same as a functioning service in every clinic.
What works
WHO recommends team-based care in which nurses, pharmacists, outreach workers and others share tasks with doctors. Its 2021 guideline says trained pharmacists and nurses can provide blood pressure medicine when they have prescribing authority, a specific protocol and physician oversight.
Limits
The guideline rates this recommendation as conditional and the evidence behind it as low certainty, and it depends on non-physicians being given prescribing authority, which is not the case everywhere.
What works
When blood pressure medicines are cheap and covered, people stay on them. The Republic of Korea combined low-cost medicines with limits on patient fees and reached a national control rate of 59% in 2022, and Bangladesh built hypertension treatment into its essential health service package.
Limits
Only 28% of low-income countries reported that all WHO-recommended blood pressure medicines were generally available, and WHO names unreliable supply chains and costly medicines as barriers.
What works
Because high blood pressure rarely causes symptoms, routine checks are the main way to find it. WHO suggests monthly follow-up after starting or changing treatment until the target is reached, then every three to six months.
Limits
About 44% of people with hypertension are still unaware of it, and lifelong follow-up is hard to sustain where clinics are far away or visits cost money. The follow-up recommendation rests on low-certainty evidence.
What works
Too much salt raises blood pressure. WHO recommends less than 5 g of salt a day, and its sodium 'best buys' include reformulating foods, front-of-pack labelling, limits in public food procurement and mass-media campaigns. WHO estimates that such policies could save about 7 million lives by 2030.
Limits
Average intake is about 10.8 g of salt a day, more than double the recommendation. Only 5% of WHO Member States are protected by mandatory, comprehensive sodium policies, and only nine countries have the full recommended package.
Promising, but not proven at scale. The stage shows how far each approach has come; it is not a recommendation.
A few countries are taking protocol-based care beyond pilot districts. The Philippines has built HEARTS into community-level services across the country, and in some regions of Bangladesh control rose from 15% to 56% between 2019 and 2025 after treatment was added to the essential service package and screening and follow-up were strengthened. Whether similar gains hold across whole national populations is still being tested.
Instead of starting with one drug and adding others over months, WHO's 2021 guideline suggests starting many patients on two medicines combined in one pill, to make treatment simpler and help people keep taking it. The recommendation is conditional, based on moderate-certainty evidence, and still has to be matched by reliable supplies of these combination pills.
Allowing trained nurses and pharmacists to start and adjust treatment under a protocol could bring care closer to people in places with few doctors. WHO supports this under defined conditions, but rates the evidence as low certainty, so how safely and effectively it works at scale in different health systems is still being studied.
Implementation gap
About 600 million adults with hypertension, 44% of the total, do not know they have it. Most feel nothing, so they are found only if someone measures their blood pressure.
Technology gap
Diagnosis and follow-up depend on accurate devices, and WHO lists limited access to validated blood pressure monitors as a barrier to control.
Implementation gap
Only 7 of 25 low-income countries reported that all WHO-recommended blood pressure medicines were generally available, compared with 93% of high-income countries. Unreliable supply chains and high prices interrupt the daily treatment that control requires.
Coordination gap
Only 5% of WHO Member States are covered by mandatory, comprehensive sodium reduction policies, and 73% lack full implementation of such policies, even though the measures are well known and inexpensive.
Coordination gap
Many patients pay for medicines and visits themselves, and WHO names inadequate financial protection as a barrier. Cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension, are projected to cost low- and middle-income countries about US$3.7 trillion between 2011 and 2025.
Knowledge gap
WHO lists insufficient information systems to monitor trends as a barrier. Country-level estimates in open databases currently end in 2019, so many health systems cannot see whether their programmes are reaching people.
Unresolved questions, not vetted breakthroughs. Answering any of them would change what is possible.
Control requires taking medicine every day for decades. Which combinations of simpler regimens, free medicines, community follow-up and reminders keep people in care over decades, and at what cost?
Checking blood pressure at every clinic visit, home visits by community health workers and self-measurement all find different people. Which approach finds the most people who then actually start and stay on treatment?
WHO's support for nurse- and pharmacist-led treatment rests on low-certainty evidence. Large, long-term studies are needed on outcomes, errors and costs when non-physicians manage hypertension in very different health systems.
Reformulating packaged foods reaches people who buy processed food, but where much of the salt may be added during home cooking it reaches fewer. Which policies lower intake in these settings, and how should they be monitored?
High blood pressure usually causes no symptoms. Get it checked regularly, for example at a clinic or pharmacy, and if it is high, see a health worker rather than waiting for symptoms.
Take medicines as prescribed, keep follow-up appointments and do not stop or share tablets because you feel well. Ask whether your blood pressure has actually reached the target.
Limit salty and processed foods, eat more vegetables and fruit, avoid tobacco, limit alcohol and aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week. These habits lower blood pressure and the risk of developing it.
Food reformulation rules, front-of-pack labels and funding for primary care are public decisions. Responding to consultations or contacting elected representatives is one way to support them; if you donate, look for programmes that report control rates, not only screenings.
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World Health Organization (25 September 2025), published 2025
WHO's overview 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, the care cascade (44% unaware, 44% diagnosed and treated, 23% controlled), the two-thirds in low- and middle-income countries, regional prevalence, the definition and blood pressure goals, risk factors, complications, the 2010–2025 global target, the six HEARTS modules and the 13.5 million people on protocol-based treatment.
World Health Organization (news release, 23 September 2025), published 2025
Summary of WHO's second global hypertension report, covering 195 countries and territories. Source of the 99 countries with control below 20%, medicine availability in low- and high-income countries, the US$3.7 trillion projected cost, the barriers WHO identifies, and the experiences of Bangladesh, the Philippines and the Republic of Korea.
World Health Organization (19 September 2023), published 2023
WHO's first global hypertension report. Source of the 10.8 million deaths a year attributed to high blood pressure (about 19% of all deaths), the 2019 care cascade, the scenario of 50% control averting 76 million deaths, 120 million strokes, 79 million heart attacks and 17 million cases of heart failure between 2023 and 2050, the 18-to-1 benefit-cost ratio and the recommendation for team-based care.
World Health Organization (2021), via NCBI Bookshelf, published 2021
WHO's current treatment guideline. Source of the treatment threshold, first-line medicine classes, the conditional recommendation for single-pill combinations, blood pressure targets, follow-up intervals and the conditional, low-certainty recommendation that trained pharmacists and nurses may provide treatment.
World Health Organization (news release, 9 March 2023), published 2023
Source of the average salt intake of 10.8 g a day, the recommendation of less than 5 g, the 5% of Member States with mandatory comprehensive policies, the 73% without full implementation, the nine countries with the full package, the four sodium 'best buys' and the 7 million lives that could be saved by 2030.
World Health Organization Global Health Observatory, via World Bank Open Data (updated 1 July 2026), published 2026
World Bank API record of modelled treatment coverage among adults aged 30–79 with hypertension, 1990–2019 (the link shows the world series). Source of the global trend (20.8% in 1990 to 41.2% in 2019); the same indicator's latest-value listing for all countries and regions gives the 2019 comparison (sub-Saharan Africa 25.7%, North America 69.8%) and the lowest country values. All country estimates end in 2019.
DO GOOD International (2026). Controlling High Blood Pressure. Global Challenges. Updated October 15, 2026. https://www.dogood.world/challenges/hypertension
For figures, please cite the original sources listed above.