How Many People Die From Epilepsy Every Year?
Epilepsy kills around 140,000 people a year worldwide. Global, UK and US figures, SUDEP risk, the treatment gap, and what helps keep people safe.
Picture a family kitchen on a Sunday morning. A 24-year-old has not come down for breakfast, which is not unusual, because he likes a lie-in. His mum takes a cup of tea up anyway. He was diagnosed with epilepsy at fifteen, his seizures have been mostly under control, and he had a good week. Nobody in that house has ever heard the word SUDEP.
Most people think of epilepsy as a condition you live with, not one you die from. For the great majority of the roughly 50 million people living with it worldwide, that is true. But epilepsy does kill, more often than most of us realise, and frequently in ways that are quiet, sudden and preventable. This article sets out what the numbers actually show.
The headline number
According to the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2021 study, epilepsy caused about 139,851 deaths worldwide in 2021, up from around 104,000 in 1990. The World Health Organization has used a rounder estimate of about 125,000 a year. Either way, it works out to roughly 380 deaths a day.
You can see how those deaths sit within the full picture on our live death counter, which tracks around 170,000 deaths of all causes every day.
| Time period | Epilepsy deaths (approx., GBD 2021) |
|---|---|
| Per year | 139,900 |
| Per month | 11,650 |
| Per week | 2,690 |
| Per day | 383 |
| Per hour | 16 |
| Per minute | 0.27 |
That is roughly one death from epilepsy every four minutes, around the clock. It is about one in every 440 deaths on the planet.
The total has risen since 1990 mainly because the world's population has grown. The age-standardised death rate, which adjusts for population size and age, has actually fallen, from about 2.07 per 100,000 in 1990 to 1.74 per 100,000 in 2021. Treatment has improved. It just has not reached everyone.
Who dies from epilepsy
Unlike most of the big killers we cover, such as cardiovascular disease or dementia, epilepsy deaths are not concentrated in old age. Nearly half happen to people between 15 and 49.
| Age group | Epilepsy deaths (2021) | Share of total |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 14 | 18,171 | 13% |
| 15 to 49 | 64,693 | 46% |
| 50 to 69 | 28,970 | 21% |
| 70 and over | 28,017 | 20% |
| All ages | 139,851 | 100% |
That age profile is what makes epilepsy deaths so painful for families. These are often young adults with jobs, partners and children, people who were otherwise healthy. Epilepsy is one of the reasons the leading causes of death for young people are not only accidents and violence. You can explore mortality in these age bands on our 15 to 29 and 30 to 49 pages.
The burden also falls more heavily on men.
| Sex | Epilepsy deaths (2021) | Age-standardised death rate (per 100,000) |
|---|---|---|
| Male | 83,871 | 2.14 |
| Female | 55,980 | 1.36 |
Men are around 60% of epilepsy deaths. Part of that gap is likely to reflect higher rates of head injury, alcohol use and missed treatment among men, all of which raise the risk.
How epilepsy kills
Epilepsy rarely kills in one single way. The main routes are:
| Cause of death | What happens |
|---|---|
| SUDEP (sudden unexpected death in epilepsy) | A person with epilepsy dies suddenly, often during or after a seizure in sleep, with no other cause found |
| Status epilepticus | A seizure lasts too long, or seizures follow each other without recovery, and becomes a medical emergency |
| Drowning | A seizure in a bath, pool or open water |
| Falls, burns and injuries | Seizures near stairs, cookers, fires or traffic |
| Suicide | People with epilepsy have higher rates of depression and suicide than the general population |
| Underlying conditions | Brain injury, stroke, tumours or infections that caused the epilepsy in the first place |
WHO says the risk of premature death in people with epilepsy is up to three times higher than in the general population, and that many of these deaths are preventable, especially those from falls, drowning, burns and prolonged seizures in poorer settings.
The drowning risk in particular is easy to underestimate. As we explain in how many people drown every day, baths are a real danger for people with epilepsy, and showers are usually advised instead. Injuries from seizures also overlap with the wider picture in how many people die from falls every day and how many people die in fires every day.
If you are struggling with low mood alongside epilepsy, please talk to someone. In the UK you can call Samaritans free on 116 123, and in the US you can call or text 988. Our article on suicide deaths covers the wider picture.
SUDEP: the death nobody mentions
Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy is the leading cause of epilepsy-related death in people whose seizures are not well controlled. It usually happens at night, and the person is often found in bed, face down. The exact mechanism is still being researched, but it is thought to involve a seizure that disrupts breathing, heart rhythm, or the brain's ability to restart them.
For years, many patients were never told about it. A 2017 practice guideline from the American Academy of Neurology and the American Epilepsy Society changed that, recommending that clinicians talk to patients and families about SUDEP and giving them figures to use.
| Group | Typical SUDEP risk per year |
|---|---|
| Children with epilepsy | about 1 in 4,500 |
| Adults with epilepsy | about 1 in 1,000 |
| Some newer population studies (Sweden, Canada) | about 1.1 per 1,000 for both children and adults |
Those risks sound small for any one person in any one year, but they add up across a lifetime, and across millions of people. The UK charity SUDEP Action estimates that SUDEP causes at least 600 deaths a year in the UK alone.
The single biggest risk factor is having generalised tonic-clonic seizures (the kind that involve stiffening and jerking of the whole body), and having them often. That is why seizure control is the most important protection. Many SUDEP deaths happen during sleep, which is one reason epilepsy appears in our guide to how many people die in their sleep.
Epilepsy deaths in the UK
In the UK, estimates of all epilepsy-related deaths are usually put at around 1,000 a year, with some older estimates higher, at over 1,100. That is about three deaths every day. SUDEP is thought to account for a large share of them.
| Measure (UK) | Estimate |
|---|---|
| Epilepsy-related deaths per year | about 1,000 to 1,150 |
| Per day | about 3 |
| SUDEP deaths per year (SUDEP Action) | at least 600 |
| Share of all UK deaths (about 660,000 a year) | roughly 0.15% |
The difficulty with UK figures is that epilepsy is often not written as the main cause on a death certificate, even when a seizure was the trigger. A drowning or a fall may be recorded instead. Researchers have long argued that the true toll is undercounted. For the bigger picture of UK mortality, see our United Kingdom page and how many people die in the UK every day.
Epilepsy deaths in the United States
The US picture has the same counting problem. CDC data compiled by Statista put deaths with epilepsy as the underlying cause at 1,852 in 2019, and the death rate at about 0.7 per 100,000 people in 2023, which implies roughly 2,300 deaths a year on that narrow definition. Patient groups argue the true figure is much higher once deaths where epilepsy contributed, rather than being listed first, are counted. One overview estimates more than 6,000 epilepsy deaths a year in the US.
| US measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Deaths with epilepsy as underlying cause (2019) | 1,852 |
| Death rate, underlying cause (2023) | about 0.7 per 100,000 |
| Broader estimate including contributing cause | more than 6,000 a year |
| All US deaths per day, for context | about 8,500 |
The gap between those numbers is a reminder that "how many people die from epilepsy" depends heavily on how a death is classified. You can compare the US with other countries on our United States page.
The treatment gap
Here is the most frustrating part of the epilepsy story. WHO estimates that up to 70% of people with epilepsy could live seizure-free with the right diagnosis and medicines. Many of those medicines are old, cheap and on WHO's essential medicines list. Yet in most low-income countries, more than three quarters of people with epilepsy receive no treatment at all.
| Setting | Share of people with epilepsy not receiving treatment (WHO) |
|---|---|
| Most low-income countries | more than 75% |
| Most middle-income countries | more than 50% |
The result shows up clearly in the death rates. GBD 2021 found the highest age-standardised epilepsy death rates in the poorest parts of the world.
| Region or group (GBD 2021) | Age-standardised death rate per 100,000 |
|---|---|
| Eastern sub-Saharan Africa | 7.49 |
| Low Socio-demographic Index countries | 4.64 |
| Global average | 1.74 |
In Eastern sub-Saharan Africa, the epilepsy death rate is more than four times the global average. Over 80% of epilepsy deaths happen in low- and middle-income countries. Stigma plays a big part: in many places epilepsy is still wrongly seen as contagious or as a curse, so people hide seizures rather than seek help. Causes such as birth injuries, brain infections and parasitic infections like neurocysticercosis are also more common, and often preventable. Our Africa page puts that region's wider mortality in context.
What reduces the risk
The good news is that much of the risk is within reach. Epilepsy specialists generally point to the same handful of steps:
| What helps | Why |
|---|---|
| Taking medication exactly as prescribed | Missed doses are a common trigger for serious seizures |
| Reviewing treatment if seizures continue | Many people can do better on a different medicine or dose |
| Tracking seizures and triggers | Sleep loss, alcohol and stress are common triggers |
| Night-time supervision or monitoring where advised | Most SUDEP happens during sleep, often unwitnessed |
| Showers instead of baths | Reduces drowning risk |
| Talking about SUDEP with a specialist | Knowing the risk helps people act on it |
Seizure first aid in brief
If you are with someone having a tonic-clonic seizure, the main points from epilepsy charities are simple:
- Stay calm and time it.
- Protect them from injury. Move hard objects away and cushion their head.
- Do not hold them down and do not put anything in their mouth.
- When the jerking stops, roll them onto their side into the recovery position and stay with them until they recover.
- Call an ambulance (999 in the UK, 911 in the US) if the seizure lasts more than five minutes, if one seizure follows another, if they are injured, if it happened in water, if they do not wake up, or if it is their first seizure.
It is a small amount of knowledge that can make a real difference, and it takes two minutes to learn.
How epilepsy compares
Epilepsy is not one of the world's top ten killers, but it sits in the same range as several causes we cover in more detail.
| Cause | Approx. deaths per year |
|---|---|
| Malaria | 597,000 |
| Drowning | about 300,000 |
| Epilepsy | about 140,000 |
| Rabies | 44,000 to 59,000 |
What sets epilepsy apart is that so many of its deaths are young, sudden and avoidable. Other neurological conditions, such as Parkinson's disease and dementia, mostly kill much later in life. You can put epilepsy side by side with other causes using our compare causes tool, or read more on malaria and rabies.
While you were reading
In the eleven minutes it took to read this, roughly three people died of epilepsy somewhere in the world, most of them in places where a cheap daily tablet could have controlled their seizures. In the same time, around 1,300 people died of all causes worldwide. You can watch the count rising in real time, or see today's running total.
Sources: Global Burden of Disease 2021 epilepsy analysis (published in PMC, 2024); World Health Organization, Epilepsy fact sheet and "Epilepsy: a public health imperative" (2019); American Academy of Neurology and American Epilepsy Society, SUDEP practice guideline (2017); SUDEP Action; Clinical Practice Research Datalink feasibility study on epilepsy-related deaths; CDC mortality data via Statista; Paediatric epilepsy and population-based SUDEP studies from Sweden and Canada. Figures are estimates and death certificates often undercount epilepsy. This article is general information, not medical advice. If you have epilepsy, talk to your doctor or epilepsy nurse about your own risk.
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