Tuberculosis in the WHO European Region: fact sheet

Tuberculosis (TB) continues to be a major public health challenge in the WHO European Region. According to the latest estimates, in 2016 about 290 000 people became ill with TB and about 26 000 people lost their lives due to TB in the Region, mostly in eastern and central European countries. In the past 10 years, the number of new TB patients has been falling at an average rate of 4.3% per year, which is the fastest decline among all WHO regions. There were almost eight times more TB patients in high TB priority countries than in the rest of the Region. The treatment success rate among new cases and relapses was 77%, which remains one of the lowest among WHO regions.