Hypertension is a major health measure worldwide, but its statistics depend on the population, blood-pressure threshold and whether diagnosis, treatment or control is being measured. The figures below separate WHO global estimates, U.S. surveillance and modeled international trends so the comparisons remain clear.
Key Hypertension Statistics
The most useful high-level figures are:
- In 2024, 1.4 billion adults aged 30–79 worldwide had hypertension, an estimated 33% of that age group.
- In 2024, 44% of adults aged 30–79 worldwide with hypertension were unaware of it, equal to about 600 million people.
- In 2024, 23% of adults aged 30–79 worldwide with hypertension had it under control, equal to approximately 320 million people.
- In August 2021–August 2023, 47.7% of U.S. adults aged 18 and older had hypertension under the CDC surveillance definition.
- In August 2021–August 2023, 71.6% of U.S. adults aged 60 and older had hypertension.
- In August 2021–August 2023, 59.2% of U.S. adults with hypertension were aware of their status.
- In August 2021–August 2023, 51.2% of U.S. adults with hypertension reported taking medication.
- In August 2021–August 2023, 20.7% of U.S. adults with hypertension had blood pressure below 130/80 mm Hg.
- From 1990 to 2019, the global number of women aged 30–79 with hypertension rose from 331 million to 626 million.
- From 1990 to 2019, the global number of men aged 30–79 with hypertension rose from 317 million to 652 million.
- In 2019, 23% of women and 18% of men worldwide with hypertension had it controlled below 140/90 mm Hg.
- In 2019, South Korea, Canada and Iceland each had hypertension treatment rates above 70% among adults aged 30–79 with hypertension.
- In 2021, age-standardized diagnosed hypertension was 40.2% among non-Hispanic Black U.S. adults.
- In 2021, U.S. state prevalence ranged from 24.6% in Colorado to 40.6% in Mississippi.
- In 2015, 8.5 million worldwide deaths were estimated to be attributable to systolic blood pressure above 115 mm Hg.
- Between 2010 and 2025, WHO set a target to reduce uncontrolled-hypertension prevalence by 25% worldwide.
Contents
- Global hypertension prevalence and worldwide scale
- U.S. hypertension statistics by age and sex
- Hypertension awareness, treatment and control
- Global hypertension trends and country differences
- U.S. hypertension disparities by race, education and geography
- Hypertension burden, outcomes and prevention targets
Global Hypertension Prevalence and Worldwide Scale
The World Health Organization estimated that 1.4 billion adults aged 30–79 worldwide had hypertension in 2024. That represented 33% of the worldwide population in that age range, and two-thirds of affected adults lived in low- and middle-income countries.
WHO uses a clinical definition of hypertension as blood pressure of at least 140/90 mm Hg when measured on two different days. These global figures therefore should not be merged directly with U.S. NHANES estimates, which use a lower surveillance threshold or medication use.
The global care gap was substantial in the same 2024 estimate:
- About 600 million adults, or 44% of adults aged 30–79 with hypertension, were unaware they had it.
- Approximately 630 million adults, or 44%, were diagnosed and treated; diagnosed-and-treated is not the same as controlled.
- Approximately 320 million adults, or 23%, had hypertension under control.
Among WHO regions, estimated prevalence ranged from 29% in the Western Pacific Region to 38% in the Eastern Mediterranean Region for adults aged 30–79. The regional comparison uses the same WHO age range and modeled definitions, not all-adult populations.
Source: WHO, “Hypertension”.
U.S. Hypertension Statistics by Age and Sex
CDC National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data for August 2021–August 2023 estimated hypertension prevalence at 47.7% among U.S. adults aged 18 and older. The CDC definition was systolic blood pressure of at least 130, diastolic blood pressure of at least 80, or current medication use.
Age was strongly associated with prevalence:
| U.S. population | Hypertension prevalence, August 2021–August 2023 |
|---|---|
| Adults aged 18–39 | 23.4% |
| Adults aged 40–59 | 52.5% |
| Adults aged 60+ | 71.6% |
Crude prevalence was 50.8% among men and 44.6% among women. Age-adjusted prevalence was 44.5% overall, 48.8% among men and 40.1% among women; age adjustment used the 2000 U.S. Census population.
Sex differences also varied by age. Among adults aged 18–39, prevalence was 30.0% for men and 16.4% for women; among adults aged 40–59, it was 55.9% for men and 49.0% for women; among adults aged 60 and older, it was 72.7% for men and 70.6% for women.
Hypertension Awareness, Treatment and Control
U.S. NHANES measures show that having hypertension, knowing about it, taking medication and reaching a blood-pressure threshold are separate outcomes. Among U.S. adults with hypertension in August 2021–August 2023, 59.2% were aware of their status and 51.2% reported taking medication.
Awareness increased with age, while the medication measure showed the same broad pattern:
| U.S. adults with hypertension | Aware | Taking medication | Controlled below 130/80 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 18–39 | 27.2% | 13.9% | 4.5% |
| Aged 40–59 | 56.7% | 47.1% | 18.1% |
| Aged 60+ | 73.7% | 69.1% | 29.2% |
Overall, only 20.7% of U.S. adults with hypertension had blood pressure below 130/80 mm Hg. The corresponding figures were 18.9% among men and 22.8% among women, while awareness was 55.2% among men and 63.6% among women and medication use was 46.7% and 56.1%, respectively.
NHANES awareness was self-reported as having been told by a health professional, and treatment was currently taking prescribed medication. Control was based on measured systolic and diastolic blood pressure, so these measures should not be treated as interchangeable.
Source: CDC NCHS Data Brief 511.
Global Hypertension Trends and Country Differences
A pooled analysis of 1,201 population-representative studies, covering 104 million participants and modeling 200 countries and territories, estimated major growth in the number of adults aged 30–79 with hypertension between 1990 and 2019. The estimates were modeled and included 95% credible intervals.
| Group, worldwide adults aged 30–79 | 1990 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Women with hypertension | 331 million | 626 million |
| Men with hypertension | 317 million | 652 million |
In 2019, previous diagnosis was reported by 59% of women and 49% of men with hypertension worldwide. Treatment reached 47% of women and 38% of men, while control below 140/90 mm Hg reached 23% of women and 18% of men.
Country differences were wide in the pooled estimates. South Korea, Canada and Iceland each had treatment rates above 70% and control rates above 50% in 2019 among adults aged 30–79 with hypertension.
At the lower end of the grouped findings, treatment was below 25% for women and below 20% for men in Nepal, Indonesia and some sub-Saharan African and Oceanian countries. Control was below 10% for both women and men in Nepal, Indonesia and some of those same grouped regions; the study did not provide one pooled country value for every named location.
Source: NCD-RisC pooled analysis on PubMed. The global control threshold in this study was below 140/90 mm Hg.
U.S. Hypertension Disparities by Race, Education and Geography
CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data describe self-reported diagnosed hypertension rather than measured blood pressure. Age-standardized self-reported diagnosed prevalence stayed near 30% in the United States from 2017 to 2021.
In 2021, prevalence was 40.2% among non-Hispanic Black adults and 22.7% among Asian adults. It was 60.6% among adults aged 65 and older compared with 14.5% among adults aged 18–44, and 33.8% among adults with less than a high-school education compared with 25.5% among college graduates or higher.
Among adults with less than a high-school education, prevalence declined from 36.1% in 2017 to 33.8% in 2021. State prevalence ranged from 24.6% in Colorado to 40.6% in Mississippi in 2021.
Medication-use patterns also varied. Among U.S. adults with self-reported hypertension, medication use rose from 59.8% in 2017 to 62.9% in 2021; in 2021 it was 68.5% among women and 59.4% among men, 92.5% among adults aged 65 and older, 71.3% among Black adults and 62.0% among White adults.
State medication-use prevalence ranged from 52.2% in Utah to 72.8% in Mississippi in 2021. BRFSS does not measure blood-pressure control, so its medication figures cannot be substituted for the NHANES control estimates.
Source: CDC MMWR, “Prevalence of Self-Reported Hypertension and Antihypertensive Medication Use Among Adults — United States, 2017–2021” and CDC MMWR PDF.
Hypertension Burden, Outcomes and Prevention Targets
A 2015 global review estimated 8.5 million deaths attributable to systolic blood pressure above 115 mm Hg. This is a population-attributable risk estimate, not a count restricted to people meeting a clinical hypertension definition; low- and middle-income countries accounted for 88% of those attributable deaths.
The threshold distinction matters when interpreting burden statistics. The WHO clinical definition uses at least 140/90 mm Hg on two different days, while the U.S. NHANES surveillance definition uses at least 130/80 mm Hg or medication use.
WHO set a global policy target to reduce uncontrolled-hypertension prevalence by 25% between 2010 and 2025. Because the target period has ended, this is a policy target rather than an observed outcome.
For people with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic kidney disease or high cardiovascular risk, WHO says the treatment goal is below 130/80 mm Hg, although individual targets can depend on other conditions. In the United States, the Healthy People 2030 prevalence target is 41.9% or lower compared with 47.7% observed in August 2021–August 2023, while the control target is at least 18.9% compared with 20.7% observed; these are not causal comparisons.
Source: WHO, “Hypertension”, CDC NCHS Data Brief 511, and the global burden review on PubMed.