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Data InsightsOver a hundred million infants receive measles vaccines annually, protecting them and communities against a deadly disease

Over a hundred million infants receive measles vaccines annually, protecting them and communities against a deadly disease

A line graph showing the estimated number of one-year-olds who have received vaccinations for various diseases from 1980 to 2023. The y-axis represents the number of vaccinations in millions, ranging from 0 to 140 million.

The lines are color-coded: the blue line represents the total number of one-year-olds, while a dark red line indicates the number vaccinated against measles. Additional light gray lines represent vaccinations for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae b, rubella, and rotavirus.

A consistent rise is observed in all vaccination categories, with the most recent data indicating over a hundred million one-year-olds have received the measles vaccine. 

Data is sourced from the United Nations, World Population Prospects (2024), World Health Organization (WHO), and UNICEF (2024). The visualization is licensed under CC BY and published by Our World in Data.

Over 100 million infants are vaccinated against measles every year, which means more than 80% of one-year-olds are protected from this potentially life-threatening disease. This global effort has saved millions of lives.

That scale should be reassuring. Measles vaccines are safe and reduce the risk of infection by over 95%, making them one of our most powerful tools to prevent childhood deaths. Outbreaks have become increasingly rare in many countries, global infant mortality has fallen, and measles vaccination alone is estimated to have saved more than 94 million lives.

But that progress is under threat: vaccination rates have fallen in recent years, as the chart shows, and fewer children are getting the protection they need. When coverage slips, measles spreads rapidly; more children suffer and die from a disease we can easily prevent.

Read my colleague Hannah’s article on the number of lives saved by childhood vaccinations

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