Our Progress Against Polio

CDC and its international partners have made significant progress over the past 26 years.

• The number of worldwide polio cases has fallen from an estimated 350,000 in 1988 to 407 in 2013—a decline of more than 99% in reported cases.
• Four regions of the world are certified polio free—the Americas, Europe, South East Asia and the Western Pacific. Only three polio-endemic countries (countries that have never interrupted the transmission of wild poliovirus) remain—Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan.
• January 13, 2014 marked three years since a child was paralyzed by wild poliovirus in India. The country was once considered the most complex challenge to achieving global polio eradication. On March 27, 2014, the country of India, along with the other 10 countries in the WHO South East Asia Region, was certified polio-free. 80% of the world’s people now live in polio-free areas.

 Top of Page