Overview - Preventing chronic diseases: a vital investment
Chronic diseases: major cause of death
60% of all deaths are due to chronic diseases
Chronic diseases include heart disease, stroke, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes. Visual impairment and blindness, hearing impairment and deafness, oral diseases and genetic disorders are other chronic conditions that account for a substantial portion of the global burden of disease.
From a projected total of 58 million deaths from all causes in 2005, it is estimated that chronic diseases will account for 35 million, which is double the number of deaths from all infectious diseases (including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria), maternal and perinatal conditions, and nutritional deficiencies combined.
(Note: The data presented in this overview were estimated by WHO using standard methods to maximize cross-country comparability. They are not necessarily the official statistics of Member States.)