A new report, paid for by a grant from the World Health Organisation, finds that one in 5 of the world’s population has genital herpes.
This is an estimate based on studies in countries around the world. It is an update on the study published in 2016 using improved data. The authors have broken down the data into continents/WHO regions. The highest rate is in Africa and the Western Pacific Region. Overall, over 900 million people have genital infection – and many more have facial infection.
In Europe for type 2 genitally: 35% of women are infected, with 9% having had an outbreak, and 27.5% men are infected, with 5% having had an outbreak. For type 1: 25 % of women are infected, with 0.7 % having had an outbreak, and 14 % men are infected, with 0.5% having had an outbreak
| In Europe | Women | Men |
|---|---|---|
| Type 2 carriers | 25% | 14% |
| Type 1 – genitally – carriers | 35% | 25.5% |
| People who had an episode in 2020 of type 1 | 9% | 5% |
| People who had an episode in 2020 of type 2 | 1.5% | 6.4% |
You can read about transmission on our webpage.
This page was published 13-12-2024