The World Health Organization and UNICEF presented the results of a joint analysis of measles incidence in the WHO European Region (which includes Israel, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, in addition to European countries like Russia and Turkey). According to their data, the number of cases doubled in 2024, reaching its highest level since 1997. In 2024, 127,352 measles cases were registered in the region (compared to 4,440 in 2016), more than 40 percent of which occurred in children under five. More than half of these cases required hospitalization, and 38 resulted in death. The highest number of cases was detected in Romania and Kazakhstan.
The WHO European Region accounted for a third of all measles cases globally in 2024. Last year, according to WHO and UNICEF estimates, half a million children in the region did not receive the first dose of vaccine. The worst vaccination situation is in Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, and Romania. Almost simultaneously, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control released a report showing that the number of measles cases in the European Union and the European Economic Area increased more than 13-fold in one year.
