There were 285 new cases of measles in the U.S. in 2024. Measles, also known as rubeola, is an infectious disease that is highly contagious and affects mostly children. Common symptoms of measles include fever, runny nose, sore throat, cough, and a rash. Although death rates from measles have decreased around the world, it is still responsible for around 81,000 deaths worldwide per year. Measles vaccination The main reason for the decrease in measles cases and deaths is due to high vaccination rates. The widely used MMR vaccine protects against measles, mumps, and rubella and is safe and effective. In 2023, around 91 percent of adolescents in the U.S. aged 13 to 17 years had received an MMR vaccination. However, in recent years there has been a rise in measles cases in many parts of the world due to vaccine hesitancy. Vaccine hesitancy Vaccine hesitancy refers to a refusal or reluctance to have children vaccinated, despite the overwhelming evidence that vaccines are safe and effective. This hesitancy comes from a misunderstanding of the ingredients in vaccines and how they work, a mistrust of doctors and pharmaceutical companies, and belief in the unfounded associations of vaccines with other diseases and disorders.

In 1970, there were 22.79 new cases of measles per 100,000 population in the United States. However, this rate dropped to .08 in the year 2024. This statistic shows the number of new cases of measles per 100,000 population in the United States from 1919 to 2024.

From January 1 to April 3, 2025, there were 607 measles cases in the United States. So far, Texas has reported the highest number of measles cases in 2025. Measles is a highly contagious disease that can be especially dangerous for young children. Vaccines against measles resulted in a significant decrease in cases in the United States over the last few decades; however, increasing vaccine hesitancy and skepticism has been blamed for recent outbreaks.

In 2023, there were a total of 58 cases of measles in the United States. Around 72 percent of measles cases that year were attributed to unvaccinated individuals. Meanwhile, those with two doses of vaccination only accounted for just three percent of cases. This statistic shows the number of measles cases reported in the United States from 2020 to 2024, by vaccination status.

In 1919, there were almost 13 deaths from measles per 100,000 population in the United States. However, this rate had dropped to zero by the year 2021. In early 2025, an outbreak of measles in Texas resulted in the death of a child. This was the first measles death in the United States since 2015. Measles is a highly contagious disease, that is especially dangerous for children. However, vaccines have significantly decreased the rate of cases and deaths in the United States.

Project Tycho data include counts of infectious disease cases or deaths per time interval. A count is equivalent to a data point. Project Tycho level 1 data include data counts that have been standardized for a specific, published, analysis. Standardization of level 1 data included representing various types of data counts into a common format and excluding data counts that are not required for the intended analysis. In addition, external data such as population data may have been integrated with disease data to derive rates or for other applications. Version 1.0.0 of level 1 data includes counts at the state level for smallpox, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis A, and whooping cough and at the city level for diphtheria. The time period of data varies per disease somewhere between 1916 and 2011. This version includes cases as well as incidence rates per 100,000 population based on historical population estimates. These data have been used by investigators at the University of Pittsburgh to estimate the impact of vaccination programs in the United States, published in the New England Journal of Medicine: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMms1215400. See this paper for additional methods and detail about the origin of level 1 version 1.0.0 data. Level 1 version 1.0.0 data is represented in a CSV file with 7 columns:

epi_week: a six digit number that represents the year and epidemiological week for which disease cases or deaths were reported (yyyyww) state: the two digit postal code state abbreviation that represents the state for which a count has been reported loc: the name of a state or city for which a count has been reported, capitalized loc_type: the type of location (STATE or CITY) for which a count has been reported disease: the disease for which a count has been reported: HEPATITIS A, MEASLES, MUMPS, PERTUSSIS, POLIO, RUBELLA, SMALLPOX, or DIPHTHERIA cases: the number of cases reported for the specified disease, epidemiological week, and location incidence_per_100000: the number of cases per 100,000 people, computed using historical population counts for cities and states as reported by the US Census Bureau

The number of confirmed cases of rubella, a vaccine-preventable disease, in the United States has decreased dramatically since 1998. This statistic shows the number of cases of rubella in the United States reported each year from 1998 to 2021.

In the year 2000, there were around 3,397 deaths due to measles in Europe. This number dropped to just 222 in 2023. This statistic shows the estimated number of deaths due to measles worldwide in 2000 and 2023, by region.

This statistic shows the annual number of cases of select infectious diseases in the U.S. before and after the development and use of vaccinations as of 2022. Before the use of vaccinations there were an estimated 530,217 new cases of measles per year in the United States. This number dropped to 121 new cases in 2022 due to the development and use of vaccinations.

Rank, number of deaths, percentage of deaths, and age-specific mortality rates for the leading causes of death, by age group and sex, 2000 to most recent year.

In 2023, there were 11 reported cases of measles in Canada, compared to over two thousand cases in 1995. This statistic shows the number of reported cases of measles in Canada from 1930 to 2023.

As of 2017, around 91.5 percent of children in the U.S. aged 19 to 35 months had been vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR). The MMR vaccine is widely used around the world and is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for adults who don’t have immunity and all children.

Measles

The number of cases of measles in the United States has dropped significantly since the introduction of the MMR vaccination. However, there has been a recent increase in measles cases, due to the growth of the vaccine hesitancy movement. Despite claims from this movement, the MMR vaccine is safe and effective. One dose of the MMR vaccine is around 93 percent effective against measles, while two doses is 97 percent effective.

Mumps

The MMR vaccine has resulted in a similar decrease in the rate of mumps cases in the U.S. One dose of the MMR vaccine is 78 percent effective against mumps, while two doses is 88 percent effective. Although the MMR vaccine is safe and effective, like any medicine it can have side effects. Common side effects include fever, a mild rash and temporary joint pain and stiffness.

New spikes of measles outbreaks in the European Economic Area (EEA) were reached in 2024, with over ***** cases of measles reported in March 2024, the highest monthly figure since June 2011. The recent increase in cases could be a result of the growing vaccine skepticism movement in some European countries. Incidence by age and country In 2023, nearly ** percent of all measles cases in the European Economic Area (EEA) were reported among children aged one to four years old. The age group between five and nine years followed with almost ** percent of the cases. In the same year, Romania reported the highest number of measles cases among all countries in the EEA with nearly ***** cases, far more than any other country in the region. Similarly, the highest incidence rate of measles in the same area was reported in Romania, with **** cases per one million population. Vaccination figures In 2023, nearly ** percent of the children in the European Economic Area (EEA) received their first dose of measles vaccines, while around ** percent received the second dose of the immunization. In that year, around **** in **** children who contracted measles in the EEA were unvaccinated, while only around **** percent of the cases were reported in children who had received * or more doses of measles immunization.

In 2024, around 1,185 petitions were filed with the United States National Injury Compensation Program (VICP) seeking compensation for injury or death caused by vaccines. However, just because a petition was filed seeking compensation for injury or death due to a vaccination does not mean that compensation was awarded. Over half of all such petitions filed in the U.S. since 1988 have been dismissed, and in 60 percent of cases in which compensation was awarded it was still not determined whether the alleged vaccine caused the alleged injury. The impact of vaccinations Vaccinations in the United States have had a significant impact on infectious diseases. For example, as of 2017, there are only about 120 new cases of measles per year, compared to over half a million annual cases before the use of vaccination. Vaccinations in the U.S. have also greatly decreased the number of annual cases of hepatitis A and B, rubella, and tetanus. COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy Vaccine hesitancy is a persistent issue in the United States. The issue became especially pertinent during the COVID-19 pandemic in which many people in the United States expressed reluctance to getting a COVID-19 vaccination. In December 2020, 59 percent of adults in the United States who stated they would definitely not or probably not get a COVID-19 vaccine said so because they were worried about possible side effects, while 55 percent said they probably wouldn’t get a COVID-19 vaccination because they do not trust the government to make sure the vaccine is safe and effective. Shockingly, one survey found that even 29 percent of health care workers stated they would probably or definitely not get a COVID-19 vaccine.

Vaccination rates among one-year-olds have risen drastically in the past four decades, with global coverage for some of the most important vaccines increasing from below twenty percent in 1980 to above eighty percent in 2021. Several vaccines introduced on a larger scale in the 1990s, such as the Hepatitis B vaccine, have increased from just one percent coverage to well over two thirds coverage today. As many infants receive multiple vaccines at one time, or as barriers to healthcare access are lifted, this has meant that global coverage trends have been fairly similar for the most common vaccines, and that coverage for newly developed vaccines has grown relatively quickly (such as the Hepatitis B and Inactivated Polio vaccines). Recent backsliding The COVID-19 pandemic marked the first time in recent history where coverage among one year olds dropped for multiple vaccines. In some cases, global coverage fell by as much as five or six percent for vaccines including diptheria/pertussus/tetanus, hepatitus B, measles, and polio. This backslide has been attributed to a variety of factors, such as weakened healthcare systems in less developed regions, the spread of misinformation surrounding vaccines, disruptions due to containment measures, supply chain issues, and the diversion of medical resources. It had been hoped that 2020 would be an anomaly, and that figures would return to their previous trajectory in 2021, but rising malnutrition and and weaker food supply to the poorest regions has exacerbated this further.