Chronic pain is the biggest global health burden. But most people don’t realize just how many people are affected by chronic pain. Our infographic lays this out.
We put this infographic together in an effort to help bring more awareness to the chronic pain crisis. If you or someone you know suffers from chronic pain, download our pain therapy app (update Aug 2023: Pathways is now a web app! Start our program here).
Feel free to share! You can even re-post this graphic on your own blog – we just ask that you mention us as the source
United States: 30% of people live with chronic pain (between 100 and 116 million people)
http://www.jpain.org/article/S1526-5900(10)00601-2/fulltext
Canada: Approximately 1 in 10 Canadians (10%) suffer from chronic pain (approximately 1.5 million people)
https://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-003-x/2010004/article/11389-eng.htm
Mexico: Is is estimated that 27% of the population live with chronic pain (approximately 28.5 million people)
http://www.medigraphic.com/pdfs/rma/cma-2010/cma104e.pdf
Brasil: 37% of people live with chronic pain (approximately 77 million people)
saude.abril.com.br/medicina/o-mapa-da-dor-cronica-no-brasil/
Chile: Approximately 5 million people live with chronic pain in Chile (27% of the population).
http://www.ached.cl/upfiles/revistas/documentos/55db8d4788920_revisiones62.pdf
http://countrymeters.info/es/Chile
Bolivia: Chronic pain affects 33% of the population (approximately 3.5 million people)
http://www.lostiempos.com/tendencias/salud/20170907/dolor-cronico-bolivia-afecta-alrededor-tres-millones-medio-personas
Colombia: Chronic pain affects 46% of the population (approximately 23 million people)
http://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/CMS-15109878
Austria: Chronic pain affects 24.9% of the Austrian population (approximately 2.2 million people)
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00508-017-1301-0.pdf
Belgium: 8.5% of people in Belgium suffer from chronic pain (938 300 people)
https://www.health.belgium.be/sites/default/files/uploads/fields/fpshealth_theme_file/douleurrapportetude.pdf
Denmark: 20.2% of the adult Danish population has chronic pain (approximately 1.1 million people)
Sjøgren, Per & Ekholm, Ola & Peuckmann-Post, Vera & Grønbæk, Morten. (2008). Epidemiology of chronic pain in Denmark: An update. European journal of pain (London, England). 13. 287-92. 10.1016/j.ejpain.2008.04.007.
Finland: The prevalence of chronic pain in the Finnish population is estimated to be 35% (approximately 2 million people)
http://epublications.uef.fi/pub/urn_isbn_978-951-27-0629-7/urn_isbn_978-951-27-0629-7.pdf
France: 30% of adults suffer from chronic pain (approximately 20 million people)
https://www.inserm.fr/information-en-sante/dossiers-information/douleur
Germany: The prevalence of moderate/severe chronic pain is estimated to be 14.5 to 25% (between 12 and 20.5 million people)
https://www.sip-platform.eu/files/structure_until_2016/National%20Initiatives/Germany/Epidemiology%20of%20chronic%20non-malignant%20pain%20in%20Germany.pdf
Iceland: Prevalence of chronic pain amongst respondents to a survey was 47.5% (which would be approximately 160000 people considering Iceland’s population)
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/hex.12245
Ireland: Breivik et al found a prevalence rate of 13% in Ireland (approximately 620,000 people)
https://www.sip-platform.eu/files/structure_until_2016/Symposia/Symposia%202011%20Programm/Workshop%202/brian_mcguire.pdf
Italy: Approximately 15.2 million people in Italy live with chronic pain (approximately 26% of the population).
http://www.retedolore.it/html/cnt/it/epidemiologia_dolore_italia.asp
http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/italy-population/
Netherlands: 20% of the population lives with chronic pain (approximately 2.2 million people)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/50892022_Epidemiology_of_chronic_pain_and_its_treatment_in_The_Netherlands
Norway: Approximately 31% of the population lives with chronic pain (approximately 1.6 million people)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3878786/
Poland: 42% of people older than 65 years of age and 35.2% of the pre-elderly are affected by chronic pain.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5575203/
Portugal: 31% os the population lives with chronic pain (approximately 3 million people)
https://ac.els-cdn.com/S087090251170013X/1-s2.0-S087090251170013X-main.pdf?_tid=ed4cc8c0-9b86-448d-b85f-b210e153ebb4&acdnat=1523195062_3ae56b6bcf4e5f43b6fa5de886d70b4e
Spain: It is estimated that 17% of the population is affected by chronic pain (approximately 8 million people)
http://scielo.isciii.es/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1134-80462014000100003
Sweden: Prevalence is estimated to be 18% (approximately 1.8 million people)
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/prt/2012/371248/
Switzerland: 16% of the population suffers from chronic pain (approximately 1.4 million people)
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/one-in-six-swiss-suffers-chronic-pain/3601404
https://www.sip-platform.eu/files/editor/media/sip2017/Working_Group_2/Presentations%20for%20SIP%20website_WG%202/4.%20WG%202%20-%20Ljutow.pdf
United Kingdom: It’s estimated that 43% of adults suffer from chronic pain (around 28 million people)
http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/6/e010364.full?sid=ec62fb50-666e-41a9-a502-32c86d8df495
South Africa: A prevalence of 42.3% was reported in rural areas and 41% in a more urban area.
http://www.sajaa.co.za/index.php/sajaa/article/view/1895
https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/40960/Rauf_Impact_2014.pdf?sequence=1
China: A prevalence of 39.92% was reported amongst women vs. 32.17% amongst men (approximately 231.5 million men and 269.5 million women).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4929094/
https://tradingeconomics.com/china/population-female-percent-of-total-wb-data.html
India: The overall point prevalence of chronic pain was 13% in a study performed with 5004 respondents (approximately 174 million people considering the general population).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24304963
https://www.livepopulation.com/country/india.html
Japan: It is estimated that 11% of the population lives with chronic pain (approximately 12.7 million people)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0949265815303171
South Korea: Almost 30 percent of Koreans suffer from chronic pain (approximately 15 million people)
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20150326000666
Singapore: Surveys indicate almost 20% of the population suffers from chronic pain (approximately 1.2 million people)
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/more-suffering-chronic-pain
Malaysia: The population prevalence of chronic persistent pain in Malaysia is about 7% (approximately 2 million people)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3291846/
Philippines: A prevalence of 10.4% for moderate and severe chronic pain in the general adult population is estimated (approximately 11 million people)
http://actamedicaphilippina.com.ph/sites/default/files/fulltexts/51-04/01-illness-perception.pdf
Australia: 20% of the population is affected (around 5 million people)
http://sydney.edu.au/medicine/pmri/pain/index.php
New Zealand: About 1 in 6 New Zealanders is affected by chronic pain (16.7% of the population or approximately 791,550 people).
https://www.healthnavigator.org.nz/health-a-z/c/chronic-pain/
http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/new-zealand-population/
Share Hope of Pain Relief
