# Many people with hypertension are not diagnosed, treated or controlled Bottleneck · id `cardio:bottleneck-uncontrolled-hypertension` · Cardiovascular Atlas · release `5dcd9b263fe17744` (public) > General information from published sources, not medical advice, and not reviewed by clinicians. Check the cited source before relying on anything here. The atlas's own text and curation may be reused under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/): credit the atlas, and do not use it commercially. See the atlas About page. Text quoted from a source stays under that source's own terms, given as the source's reuse\_basis. The atlas's reuse terms do not cover it. The downloads list each quotation with its source in third\_party\_quotations. Browse, organ or system: Blood vessels Browse, condition area: High blood pressure ## In plain language Many adults with high blood pressure do not know they have it, are not treated, or do not have it under control. WHO's 2023 global report estimates that in 2019, among adults aged 30 to 79 with hypertension, 54% had been diagnosed, 42% were being treated and 21% had their hypertension controlled. A WHO fact sheet from September 2025, whose key facts date its prevalence figure to 2024, says 44% are unaware, 44% are diagnosed and treated, and 23% have it controlled. These are separate estimates for different years, not a measured change. The blood pressure control gap is what Million Hearts' blood pressure priority in the United States and WHO's HEARTS package are aimed at. ## Technical summary Burden claim rests on two WHO publications with different estimate years and categories, shown side by side and not merged. They are modelled population estimates, not registry counts. WHO's fact sheet calls hypertension a major cause of premature death worldwide. HEARTS and Million Hearts are the efforts recorded here; neither record shows that closing the gap is achieved. The overlay on the WHO organization record adds WHO as an actor on this bottleneck. ## Claims, with the population each applies to ## Context: Adults aged 30 to 79 years with hypertension, worldwide (WHO estimates) Recipient: Adult; Population: Adults aged 30 to 79 years with hypertension. The report defines hypertension as blood pressure of 140 mmHg systolic or higher, or 90 mmHg diastolic or higher, or being on medication. The fact sheet gives 140/90 mmHg or higher.; Care setting: Population-level estimates from the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration with additional calculations (report figure source), not a care setting.; Geography: Worldwide; the report also gives regional and country-income-level variation.; Life stage: Adults aged 30 to 79 years; Follow-up: Not stated in the source: these are population estimates, not a follow-up of individuals. The report's diagnosis, treatment and control figures are for 2019; the fact sheet's key facts give 2024 for the number of adults with hypertension. ### The WHO Global report on hypertension (2023) estimates that in 2019, among adults aged 30 to 79 years with hypertension, 54% had been diagnosed, 42% were being treated for their hypertension and 21% had their hypertension controlled. A WHO hypertension fact sheet dated 25 September 2025, whose key facts give the number of adults with hypertension for 2024, says that an estimated 600 million adults with hypertension (44%) are unaware that they have the condition, approximately 630 million adults with hypertension (44%) are diagnosed and treated, and approximately 320 million adults with hypertension (23%) have it under control. The fact sheet prints no year beside those three figures. The two sets are separate estimates for different years, not a measured change between 2019 and 2024 or 2025. - Category: Burden - Evidence stage: Evidence synthesis - Certainty: Certainty not assessed - Applies to: Recipient: Adult; Population: Adults aged 30 to 79 years with hypertension. The report defines hypertension as blood pressure of 140 mmHg systolic or higher, or 90 mmHg diastolic or higher, or being on medication. The fact sheet gives 140/90 mmHg or higher.; Care setting: Population-level estimates from the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration with additional calculations (report figure source), not a care setting.; Geography: Worldwide; the report also gives regional and country-income-level variation.; Life stage: Adults aged 30 to 79 years; Follow-up: Not stated in the source: these are population estimates, not a follow-up of individuals. The report's diagnosis, treatment and control figures are for 2019; the fact sheet's key facts give 2024 for the number of adults with hypertension. - Limitations: The report and the fact sheet are two WHO publications. The report's figures are for 2019; the fact sheet gives a year only for its prevalence key fact (2024), and its categories differ from the report's (unaware, and diagnosed and treated, against diagnosed, treated and controlled). They are not reconciled here. The report defines hypertension as blood pressure of 140 mmHg systolic or higher, or 90 mmHg diastolic or higher, or being on medication; the fact sheet gives 140/90 mmHg or higher. The figures are modelled population estimates for ages 30 to 79 (the report cites the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration and additional calculations), not counts from a registry, and they are global averages: the report also describes variation by sex, region and country income level. - Last checked: 2026-10-15 - Sources: 1. Supports: Global report on hypertension: the race against a silent killer (Publication, edition WHO publication page and English PDF from WHO IRIS, both fetched 2026-10-15. The page dates the report 19 September 2023. The PDF has 291 pages.) Locator: PDF page 24, section 2.3 Status of hypertension care, paragraph 1. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:51:15Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 67b96f51a8e8b8261319eb59f0b09b970628c74f068c28b92bcb858ce0ac502b. How it applies: Diagnosed, treated and controlled shares. 2. Supports: Hypertension (WHO fact sheet) (Webpage, edition WHO fact sheet fetched 2026-10-15; the page is dated 25 September 2025.) Locator: Key facts, bullets 3 to 5. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:49:17Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 32ffbba46cfbc27cba316446a74eaf7ebc28af89d3b245232bc426c70842d902. How it applies: Unaware, diagnosed and treated, and controlled shares from the fact sheet. 3. Background: Global report on hypertension: the race against a silent killer (Publication, edition WHO publication page and English PDF from WHO IRIS, both fetched 2026-10-15. The page dates the report 19 September 2023. The PDF has 291 pages.) Locator: PDF page 22, global burden of hypertension. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:51:15Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 67b96f51a8e8b8261319eb59f0b09b970628c74f068c28b92bcb858ce0ac502b. How it applies: Number of adults with hypertension. ## Connected pages - The condition whose care falls short: Hypertension (high blood pressure) (`core:hypertension`) - Filed under this front: Prevention and lifestyle (`cardio:front-prevention-and-lifestyle`) - Addressed by: World Health Organization (`cardio:who`) - Addressed by: Million Hearts (`cardio:million-hearts`) ## Provenance Content hash: 31dcd1d356a3be29d5520482d09ee2667fd5a6accd6eb053f901cd5d50d08f57 Last substantive edit: 2026-10-15 Evidence last checked: 2026-10-15