Chronic kidney disease has become one of the deadliest health conditions on the planet, with the number of people affected more than doubling over three decades and the disease now ranking among the top 10 causes of death worldwide.
A major 2025 analysis found that 788 million people globally were living with reduced kidney function by 2023, up from 378 million in 1990. The disease claimed roughly 1.5 million lives in 2023 alone, a death rate that has grown more than 6% since 1993 even after accounting for aging populations across different countries.
The research, led by scientists at NYU Langone Health, the University of Glasgow, and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, examined published papers and health datasets from 133 countries. The findings appear in The Lancet and represent the most comprehensive global estimate of the disease in nearly a decade.
What makes the condition especially dangerous is its silence. Roughly 14% of adults worldwide now have chronic kidney disease, yet many experience no symptoms in early stages. The disease slowly erodes the kidneys' ability to filter waste and excess fluid from the bloodstream. Advanced cases require dialysis, kidney transplantation, or other intensive interventions.
A silent threat to the heart
Kidney damage extends far beyond the kidneys themselves. Impaired kidney function contributed to about 12% of all cardiovascular deaths globally, making it a major risk factor for heart disease. In terms of disability, chronic kidney disease ranked as the 12th leading cause of reduced quality of life in 2023.
High blood sugar, high blood pressure, and obesity emerged as the largest risk factors driving the disease. Yet many people with chronic kidney disease remain undiagnosed entirely because they are never tested for the condition.
"Chronic kidney disease is underdiagnosed and undertreated," said Morgan Grams, MD, PhD, one of the study's lead authors at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. "Our report underscores the need for more urine testing to catch it early and the need to ensure that patients can afford and access therapy once they are diagnosed."
Josef Coresh, director of NYU Langone's Optimal Aging Institute and another co-senior author, emphasized that early detection and treatment can be transformative. Medications and lifestyle changes can slow disease progression and help patients avoid expensive, intensive treatments later on. Several medications developed in recent years can slow kidney disease and reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, and heart failure.
The challenge is access. In sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and other low-income regions, relatively few people receive dialysis or kidney transplants. The treatments are often unavailable or unaffordable in those areas, creating a stark global divide in care.
The World Health Organization formally added chronic kidney disease to its agenda for reducing early deaths from noncommunicable diseases by one-third before 2030, signaling growing international recognition of the crisis. Coresh noted that tackling the problem requires clear, current data about how the disease affects populations worldwide.
In 2026, kidney experts have continued raising alarms, projecting that chronic kidney disease deaths could keep rising in the decades ahead even as deaths from stroke and heart disease are expected to fall. Clinical guidance is evolving rapidly, with kidney care organizations updating their treatment recommendations to reflect new evidence on kidney protective therapies including SGLT2 inhibitors and newer drug classes.
The shift reflects a fundamental change in how experts view the disease. Chronic kidney disease is no longer seen primarily as a late-stage condition leading to dialysis. It is increasingly understood as a common, quiet, and dangerous disorder that can be caught earlier, treated sooner, and closely linked to some of the world's biggest killers.
Author Jessica Williams: "The data shows we have both a massive public health problem and a real window to fix it, yet the gap between what we know and what we're doing remains dangerously wide."
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