Estimating the Number of Services & Patients Receiving Specialized Palliative Care Globally in 2025.

Abstract

Palliative care is an essential component of every health-care system. Information on the status of palliative care service delivery is necessary to understand the gap between current capacity and population-level need. To estimate the number of specialized palliative care providers worldwide and the number of patients they served in 2025, in comparison to 2017. Previous estimates from a sample of countries representing each World Bank income group in 2017, using typical case purposive sampling, were used to project numbers of patients served based on reported numbers of services, as collected through the most recent Global Palliative Care Mapping Study covering 201 countries. In 2025, the estimated number of specialized palliative care service delivery teams worldwide reached approximately 33,700 - representing a 35.6% increase from the 25,000 identified in 2017. Service delivery expanded across all WHO regions. The estimated number of patients served rose from almost 7 million in 2017 to approximately 10.4 million in 2025. This figure represents roughly 14% of the total global need for palliative care. However, this estimate includes both primary and specialist care needs, while this study focuses exclusively on specialist services. A substantial portion of the remaining need may be addressed through the development and integration of primary-level palliative care. Despite notable growth in service availability, significant disparities persist, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. While over half of the need appears to be met in high-income countries, only 4.4% is addressed by specialist provision in low and middle-income countries. The contribution of primary-level care remains unknown.