- UEvery day, measles kills more than 300 children, making it a major cause of death among children
Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by the measles virus. Despite there being a vaccinate for more than 40 years, there are still an estimated 450 people, mostly children, die every day from measles.
The biggest increase between 2011 and 2018 was recorded in India (more than 55 000 cases). One of the highest increase between 2011 and 2018 happened was recorded in both, Ukraine and Yemen, likely because of the very unstable situation in both countries due to the wars starting there in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Venezuela, Philippines, Serbia and Brazil are also among the countries with an increase of over 40 000 cases in that time period.
The biggest decline was recorded in Indonesia (more than 20 000), followed by Zambia, Nigeria and France, all with a decline of more than 10 000 cases between 2011 and 2018.
The highest number of the almost 190,000 total confirmed measles cases in 2018 has been reported in India – more than 55,000 -, followed by Ukraine, the Philippines, Yemen and Nigeria. India is also leading for the 8 year period of cases between 2011 and 2018: almost 350,000 of the more than 1.5 million cases have been reported there. China, Nigeria, Indonesia and the Philippines complete the top 5.
