Cholera Annual Report 2025 World Health Organization

On 25 September, the World Health Organization (WHO) published the Cholera annual report 2025. Cholera is a serious intestinal infection that causes severe, watery diarrhea. The disease occurs mainly in countries with little clean drinking water and poor sewage systems.

The WHO received reports of cholera from 47 countries in 2025. It involved more than 450,000 patients with cholera. These are fewer reports than in 2024. This is mainly because one country, Yemen, reported far fewer patients. In many other countries, the number of reports of cholera increased, especially in Africa. A small number of countries with war, disasters and/or many displaced persons were responsible for the majority of patients and deaths.

In 2025, the WHO received nearly 8,000 reports of cholera deaths. This is about 30% more than in 2024 and the highest number since 1999. 
The figures should be carefully explained. Between and within countries, it can vary per year how well they can detect and report patients. The real number of cholera patients and deaths in the world is probably much higher. Worldwide, the burden of disease caused by cholera is estimated at millions of infections and tens of thousands of deaths every year.

To prevent cholera, clean drinking water, good toilets and hygiene and rapid medical care are very important. Vaccination is used worldwide to prevent outbreaks. Until 2022, there were too few doses of the vaccine against cholera, but production has increased in recent years.

People can reduce their risk of cholera by using only safe drinking water (for example, boiled or bottled water) in areas where there is a lot of cholera, heating food well and often washing their hands with soap and water, especially before eating and after visiting the toilet.