Global incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), disability-adjusted lifeyears (DALYs), and healthy life expectancy (HALE) for 371 diseases and injuries, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

Sep 16, 2026

Detailed evidence is provided on global population health loss, reporting incidence, prevalence, YLDs, DALYs, and HALE for 371 diseases and injuries across 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations from 1990–2021. The analysis supports evidence-based public health action by quantifying disease and injury burden over time, by age, sex, and place. Updated estimates include COVID-19–related health loss and use extensive data sources to enable monitoring toward major health targets.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages30

Reading Time1 h 16 min

AccessFree to download

Background

Methods

Findings

UC San Diego UC San Diego Previously Published Works Title Global incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), disability-adjusted lifeyears (DALYs), and healthy life expectancy (HALE) for 371 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a sy... Permalink [https://escholarship.org/uc/item/92c1r2fp](https://escholarship.org/uc/item/92c1r2fp) Journal The Lancet, 403(10440) ISSN 0140-6736 Authors Collaborators, GBD 2021 Diseases and Injuries Ferrari, Alize J Santomauro, Damian Francesco et al. Publication Date 2024-05-01 DOI 10.1016/s0140-6736(24)00757-8 Copyright Information This work is made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution License, available at [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Peer reviewed [eScholarship.org](eScholarship.org) Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Articles Global incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and healthy life expectancy (HALE) for 371 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 GBD 2021 Diseases and Injuries Collaborators* Summary Background Detailed, comprehensive, and timely reporting on population health by underlying causes of disability and premature death is crucial to understanding and responding to complex patterns of disease and injury burden over time and across age groups, sexes, and locations. The availability of disease burden estimates can promote evidence-based interventions that enable public health researchers, policy makers, and other professionals to implement strategies that can mitigate diseases. It can also facilitate more rigorous monitoring of progress towards national and international health targets, such as the Sustainable Development Goals. For three decades, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) has filled that need. A global network of collaborators contributed to the production of GBD 2021 by providing, reviewing, and analysing all available data. GBD estimates are updated routinely with additional data and refined analytical methods. GBD 2021 presents, for the first time, estimates of health loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods The GBD 2021 disease and injury burden analysis estimated years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and healthy life expectancy (HALE) for 371 diseases and injuries using 100 983 data sources. Data were extracted from vital registration systems, verbal autopsies, censuses, household surveys, disease-specific registries, health service contact data, and other sources. YLDs were calculated by multiplying cause-age-sex-location-year-specific prevalence of sequelae by their respective disability weights, for each disease and injury. YLLs were calculated by multiplying cause-age-sex-location-year-specific deaths by the standard life expectancy at the age that death occurred. DALYs were calculated by summing YLDs and YLLs. HALE estimates were produced using YLDs per capita and age-specific mortality rates by location, age, sex, year, and cause. 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated for all final estimates as the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles values of 500 draws. Uncertainty was propagated at each step of the estimation process. Counts and age-standardised rates were calculated globally, for seven super-regions, 21 regions, 204 countries and territories (including 21 countries with subnational locations), and 811 subnational locations, from 1990 to 2021. Here we report data for 2010 to 2021 to highlight trends in disease burden over the past decade and through the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings Global DALYs increased fr

FAQs

What health metrics are reported in this study?

The study reports incidence, prevalence, YLDs, DALYs, and HALE for 371 diseases and injuries.

How were DALYs and YLDs calculated?

YLDs are calculated from prevalence of sequelae multiplied by disability weights, and DALYs are obtained by summing YLDs and YLLs.

What major changes were found from 2010 to 2021?

Global DALYs increased, COVID-19 became the leading cause in 2021, and several age-standardised DALY rates for communicable diseases declined while anxiety, depressive disorders, and diabetes increased.

Sep 16, 2026

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