Europe and Central Asia are missing regional and global tuberculosis targets, with one in five cases not diagnosed or reported and unusually high levels of drug-resistant disease.
A total of 161,569 new and relapse TB cases were reported in 2024 across 51 of the 53 countries in the WHO European Region, but this represented only 79% of the estimated number of new and relapse cases, according to a new report by the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Europe and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
WHO estimated that about 204,000 people fell ill with TB across the region in 2024.
TB incidence in the WHO European Region has fallen by 39% since 2015 and deaths by 49%, but both remain below the End TB Strategy’s 2025 milestones of 50% and 75% respectively, the report said.
In the EU and European Economic Area (EU/EEA), TB cases decreased by 33% and deaths by 17% over the same period.
One in five people who start TB treatment in the EU/EEA are not evaluated after one year, including children under 15.
“During the past decade, the EU and EEA countries have seen the number of TB cases decrease by 33% and the number of deaths by 17%,” said ECDC Director Dr Pamela Rendi-Wagner.
“To achieve the 2030 targets, continued efforts and collaboration are needed in early detection and sustained follow-up to support people already diagnosed with TB,” she added.
Drug-resistant TB remains far higher than global levels
The WHO European Region recorded 26,845 confirmed cases of rifampicin-resistant or multidrug-resistant TB in 2024, including 817 cases in the EU/EEA, the report said.
Rifampicin is a key TB antibiotic, and resistance to it often signals harder-to-treat disease.
In the WHO European Region, 23% of new TB cases and 53% of previously treated cases were rifampicin-resistant or multidrug-resistant, compared with global levels of 3.2% and 16% respectively.
In the EU/EEA, 3.5% of TB cases were rifampicin-resistant or multidrug-resistant, but treatment success for those cases was 56%.
Overall treatment success in the EU/EEA stood at 64%, against a WHO target of 90%.
“One in five people with TB in the European Region are still being missed by health services,” said Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe.
The report, titled "TB Surveillance and Monitoring in Europe 2026," is a joint publication by WHO’s Regional Office for Europe and ECDC, using data from the 2024 surveillance year.
