Cholera deaths increased by 30% in 2025, despite fewer cases being reported to the World Health Organization (WHO).  

In 2025, 47 countries reported 451 499 cholera cases and 7870 deaths to WHO. This is the highest number of annual cholera deaths reported to WHO since 1999. These figures reflect surveillance data reported to WHO and not the actual global burden of cholera, which is estimated to be substantially higher as many cases go unreported.  

Seven countries – Angola, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen – accounted for around 90% of all reported cholera cases and deaths globally. The WHO African Region reported the largest burden, with a 34% increase in cases and a 58% increase in deaths compared with 2024. 

These findings are published in the latest edition of the Weekly Epidemiological Record alongside updates about two other epidemic-prone bacterial diseases: meningitis and plague.