Feigin, ValeryBrainin, MNorrving, BMartins, SOPandian, JLindsay, PGrupper, MFRautalin, I2025-01-072025-01-072025International Journal of Stroke, ISSN: 1747-4930 (Print); 1747-4949 (Online), SAGE Publications. doi: 10.1177/174749302413081747-49301747-4949http://hdl.handle.net/10292/18490Background: Among non-communicable disorders (NCDs), stroke remains the second leading cause of death and the third leading cause of death and disability combined (as expressed by disability-adjusted life-years lost—DALYs) in the world. Aims: The study was aimed to estimate global, regional and nationa burden of stroke and its risk factors from 1990 to 2021. Methods: Finding presented in this paper were derived mainly from the Global Burden of Disease 2021 Study on stroke burden published in The Lancet Neurology 2024:23:973-1003. Results: The estimated global cost of stroke is over US$890 billion (0.66% of the global GDP). From 1990 to 2021, the burden (in terms of the absolute number of cases) increased substantially (70.0% increase in incident strokes, 44.0% deaths from stroke, 86.0% prevalent strokes, and 32% DALYs), with the bulk of the global stroke burden (87.0% of deaths and 89.0% of DALYs) residing in lower-income and lower-middle-income countries (LMICs). Stroke attributable to metabolic risks constituted 69.0% of all strokes, environmental risks constituted 37.0%, and behavioral risks constituted 35.0%. Conclusion: This World Stroke Organization (WSO) Global Stroke Fact Sheet 2025 provides the most updated information that can be used to inform communication with all internal and external stakeholders; all statistics have been reviewed and approved for use by the WSO Executive Committee and leaders from the Global Burden of Disease research group.© 2025 World Stroke Organization. Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC 4.0). This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/1103 Clinical Sciences1109 NeurosciencesNeurology & Neurosurgery3202 Clinical sciences3209 Neurosciences4201 Allied health and rehabilitation scienceJournal ArticleOpenAccess10.1177/17474930241308