On World Asthma Day, May 4, 2004, the Global Initiative for Asthma released the Global Burden of Asthma Report, a compilation of published data on the prevalence and impact of asthma around the world. According to the report, an estimated 300 million people worldwide now have asthma—striking evidence that asthma is a global health problem that cannot be ignored.

Around the world, asthma affects people of all ethnic groups, socioeconomic levels, and ages. However, asthma often developes during childhood. Instead, asthma is the most common chronic disease that causes absence from school.

Moreover, the prevalence of asthma is increasing throughout the world, and the rate appears to increase as communities adopt western lifestyles and become urbanized.¹ The most striking increases have occured in Australia, where about one-quarter of children are now diagnosed with asthma.² In the United States, the number of people with asthma more than doubled between 1980 and 1998, from 6.7 million to an estimated 17.3 million.³ With the projected increase in the proportion of the world's population that is urban from 45% to 59% in 2025, there is likely to be a marked increase in the number of asthmatics worldwide over the next two decades. It is estimated that there may be an additional 100 million persons with asthma by 2025.¹

References: (1) Global Burden of Asthma. Available May 2004 on http://www.ginasthma.com. (2) Peat, et al. Medical Journal of Australia 1995;153;22-26. (3) Action Against Asthma. A Strategic Plan for the Department of Health and Human Services. May 2000.