The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of growing resistance to common antibiotics, revealing that one in six bacterial infections globally in 2023 proved resistant to treatment.
Global Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance Report 2025 paints a worrying picture of a world where life-saving drugs are becoming less effective against common infections.
According to the report, antibiotic resistance rose in over 40 percent of the pathogen–antibiotic combinations monitored between 2018 and 2023, with an average annual increase of between 5 and 15 percent.
The data, drawn from more than 100 countries through the WHO’s Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS), shows that resistance to essential antibiotics poses a major threat to public health worldwide.
The report highlights that resistance levels are particularly high in developing regions. The WHO estimates that antibiotic resistance is highest in the South-East Asian and Eastern Mediterranean Regions, where one in three reported infections were resistant, while in the African Region, one in five infections showed resistance.
Alarmingly, resistance to certain antibiotics in Africa has exceeded 70 percent, driven by limited diagnostic capacity, inadequate access to quality medicines, and poor surveillance systems.
“Antimicrobial resistance is outpacing advances in modern medicine, threatening the health of families worldwide,” warned WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “As countries strengthen their AMR surveillance systems, we must use antibiotics responsibly and ensure everyone has access to the right medicines, quality-assured diagnostics, and vaccines.”
The report identifies Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Klebsiella pneumoniae as the leading drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria found in bloodstream infections,among the most severe infections that can lead to sepsis, organ failure, and death.
More than 40 percent of E. coli and over 55 percent of K. pneumoniae globally are now resistant to third-generation cephalosporins, which are the first-choice treatment for such infections.
Resistance to other vital antibiotics, such as carbapenems and fluoroquinolones, is also rising, narrowing treatment options and forcing doctors to rely on last-resort drugs that are costly and often unavailable in low- and middle-income countries.
Despite the grim findings, WHO acknowledged progress in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance, with participation in GLASS increasing from 25 countries in 2016 to 104 in 2023.
However, nearly half of the reporting countries still lack reliable systems to generate quality data.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros AdhanomGhebreyesus emphasized that combating AMR requires global collaboration and commitment
“Our future depends on strengthening systems to prevent, diagnose, and treat infections — and on innovating with next-generation antibiotics and rapid diagnostic tests,”he said.
The global health agency is urging all countries to submit high-quality AMR data to GLASS by 2030 and adopt coordinated ‘One Health’ approaches that link human, animal, and environmental health to tackle the growing crisis.