Epidemiology and Burden of Epilepsy

Epilepsy is one of the most prevalent serious neurological disorders, marked by an enduring predisposition to generate seizures and associated neurobiological, cognitive and psychosocial consequences. Globally, more than 50 million people live with active epilepsy, yielding an age‐standardised prevalence of approximately 658 per 100 000 and an estimated incidence around 50 per 100 000 person‐years. Prevalence and associated disability peak in early childhood and in later adulthood, while incidence rates are highest in the very young and in those over 60 years. The burden, measured in disability‐adjusted life years (DALYs), has declined modestly over recent decades for idiopathic epilepsy, reflecting reductions in mortality, but absolute numbers continue to rise in low‐ and middle‐income regions where over 80 % of cases occur. Mortality in people with epilepsy is two to three times higher than in the general population, driven by sudden unexplained death in epilepsy (SUDEP), seizure‐related accidents and status epilepticus. Socioeconomic and geographic disparities are pronounced: low‐resource settings face higher mortality, greater disease severity and limited access to treatment, while stigma and social isolation compound the overall impact. The direct and indirect economic costs of epilepsy, encompassing healthcare utilisation, lost productivity and caregiver burden, underscore the global need for improved surveillance, equitable treatment delivery and targeted public health strategies.

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Epidemiology and Burden of Epilepsy publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in epidemiology and burden of epilepsy across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Prevalence: Proportion of a population living with epilepsy at a given time.

Incidence: Number of new epilepsy cases per unit of population per year.

Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY): Composite metric summing years of life lost and years lived with disability.

Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP): Unexpected, non-traumatic death in an individual with epilepsy without another obvious cause.

Status Epilepticus: Seizure lasting longer than five minutes or recurrent seizures without recovery between episodes.

Idiopathic Epilepsy: Epilepsy of presumed genetic or unknown origin, without detectable structural cause.

Secondary Epilepsy: Epilepsy resulting from an identifiable structural, metabolic or acquired brain abnormality.

References

1. Global, regional, and national burden of epilepsy, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021. The Lancet Public Health (2025).
2. Gender and Socioeconomic Disparities in Global Burden of Epilepsy: An Analysis of Time Trends From 1990 to 2017. Frontiers in Neurology (2021).
3. Mortality, and life expectancy in Epilepsy and Status epilepticus—current trends and future aspects. Frontiers in Epidemiology (2023).