Chronic kidney disease has become one of the most prevalent and deadly health problems in the world, with record numbers of people estimated to have impaired kidney function.
A 2025 global analysis found that the number of people living with the disease increased from 378 million in 1990 to 788 million in 2023. As the world’s population grows and ages, chronic kidney disease has entered the world’s top 10 causes of death for the first time.
The study was led by researchers at NYU Langone Health, the University of Glasgow, and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington. It investigated the growing toll of a disease that slowly weakens the kidneys’ ability to remove waste and excess water from the blood.
In mild cases, you may not experience any symptoms at all. In advanced cases, patients may require dialysis, kidney replacement therapy, or kidney transplantation.
The unexpected arrival of illness for many people
This analysis estimates that approximately 14% of adults worldwide have chronic kidney disease. It was also found that approximately 1.5 million people will die from this disease in 2023. After adjusting for differences in age patterns across countries, the number of deaths increased by more than 6% since 1993.
“Our study shows that chronic kidney disease is common, deadly, and a worsening major public health problem,” said Joseph Koresh, MD, co-author of the study and director of the New York University Langone Institute for Optimal Aging. “These findings support efforts to recognize this condition as a key priority for policy makers around the world, alongside cancer, heart disease and mental health issues.”
In May 2025, the World Health Organization officially made chronic kidney disease a challenge to reduce premature deaths from non-communicable diseases by one-third by 2030. Koresh said tackling the problem requires a clear picture of how the disease is affecting people around the world. He is also the Terry Karmazin and Mel Karmazin Professor of Population Health at New York University Grossman School of Medicine.
This report is lancet It was also presented at the American Society of Nephrology’s annual Kidney Week meeting. The authors say this is the most comprehensive global estimate of chronic kidney disease in nearly a decade.
A global snapshot of kidney damage
The study was conducted as part of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2023 study, a large-scale international effort to track health loss across countries and over time. The results are often used to guide public health policy and shape global health research priorities.
For their analysis, researchers reviewed 2,230 published research papers and national health datasets from 133 countries. They looked at patterns of diagnosis and death and measured the extent to which disability was related to chronic kidney disease.
The results of this study showed that kidney damage does not only threaten the kidneys. Kidney dysfunction is also a major risk factor for heart disease, contributing to approximately 12% of cardiovascular deaths worldwide.
In 2023, chronic kidney disease will also become the 12th leading cause of reduced quality of life due to disability. The biggest risk factors were high blood sugar, high blood pressure, and high body mass index (BMI).
Early treatment can change the trajectory
Most of the chronic kidney disease patients in the study were still in the early stages. This detail is important because early action often slows the progression of the disease and allows patients to avoid more intensive and costly treatment later on.
Koresh said if symptoms are caught early enough, medications and lifestyle changes can help prevent progression to dialysis or kidney transplant.
However, access to treatment is uneven. Relatively few people in sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and other low-income regions receive dialysis or kidney transplants. A possible reason is that these treatments are often not available or affordable in these areas.
“Chronic kidney disease is underdiagnosed and undertreated,” said study co-lead author Morgan Graham, MD. “Our report highlights the need for increased urine testing for early detection and for patients to be able to pay for and receive treatment once diagnosed.”
Grams, the Susan and Morris Mark Professor of Medicine at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine, said several drugs introduced in the past five years may slow the progression of kidney disease and lower the risk of heart attacks, strokes and heart failure. Still, she noted that it will take time for these advances to improve outcomes on a global scale.
She also warned that chronic kidney disease may be even more common than estimates because many people have never been tested.
Why warnings are still growing
Since the publication of the 2025 analysis, kidney disease continues to gain prominence as a global health priority. In 2026, kidney experts highlighted projections that suggest deaths from chronic kidney disease may continue to rise for decades to come, although deaths from stroke and ischemic heart disease are expected to decline significantly.
Clinical teaching is also evolving. Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes, an organization that develops widely used kidney care guidelines, is updating its 2024 Chronic Kidney Disease Guidance to address emerging evidence on kidney protective treatments. These include SGLT2 inhibitors, GLP-1-based therapies, and nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists for patients with chronic kidney disease without diabetes.
The increased attention reflects a shift in how experts view the disease. Chronic kidney disease is no longer seen only as a terminal condition leading to dialysis or transplantation. It is increasingly understood to be a silent, common and dangerous disease that can be detected early, treated early and is closely linked to the world’s biggest killers.
Funding and disclosure
Funding for this research was provided by National Institutes of Health grant R01DK100446, the Gates Foundation, and the National Kidney Foundation.
Coresh is a scientific advisor and equity owner of Healthy.io, a health technology company that provides remote clinical testing and related services. He is also a consultant for SomaLogic. These relationships are disclosed and governed by NYU Langone Health policies and procedures.
Along with Coresh and Grams, Patrick Mark, Ph.D., of the University of Glasgow, and Lauryn Stafford, M.S., of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington in Seattle, were co-lead authors of the study.
Other co-senior authors of the study include Dr. Jennifer Rees from the University of Glasgow, Dr. Teo Bos and Dr. Lian Ong from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington in Seattle.
