Childhood vaccinations: 750,000 fewer "zero-dose" children in 2025 according to WHO-UNICEF estimates
The WUENIC estimates published on July 15 indicate 13.5 million children with no dose in their first year of life, down from 2024. Measles coverage, however, remains stuck below the threshold identified as necessary to prevent outbreaks.
On July 15, 2026, the World Health Organization and UNICEF published joint estimates on national vaccination coverage for 2025, known by the acronym WUENIC and covering 195 countries. These are estimates, not a census: they reconstruct coverage country by country and should be read with the margin of uncertainty inherent to this type of analysis.
The overall picture, according to the joint WHO-UNICEF statement, shows marginal improvement. In 2025, 90% of newborns worldwide — nearly 116 million — received at least one dose of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine; 85%, or 110 million, completed the three-dose cycle. Both indicators rose by one percentage point compared with the previous year, but remain one point below 2019 levels.
The most widely cited figure concerns the so-called “zero-dose” children, who received no vaccine in their first year of life: they are estimated at 13.5 million, nearly 750,000 fewer than in 2024. The reduction is real but the absolute figure remains high, and the available sources do not provide a country-by-country breakdown of this decrease.
| Indicator, 2025 data | Value |
|---|---|
| First dose of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis | 90% (~116 million) |
| Full three-dose cycle | 85% (110 million) |
| “Zero-dose” children | 13.5 million (−750,000 vs 2024) |
| First dose of measles vaccine | 84% |
| Second dose of measles vaccine | 77% |
On measles, the picture is different. Coverage remains stuck at 84% for the first dose and 77% for the second: both below the 95% threshold that the statement identifies as necessary to prevent outbreaks. In 2025, 57 countries reported extensive or disruptive measles outbreaks. However, the long-term trend must also be noted: from 2000 to 2025, the share of children fully protected against measles rose from 17% to 77%, and in the past year nearly one million more children received the second dose. The contrast between annual stagnation and twenty-five-year progress is the point the data force us to hold together.
A regional analysis accompanies the global figure. According to the statement from the Pan American Health Organization, in the Americas the number of unvaccinated children under one year of age fell from 1.3 to 1.1 million, while coverage against human papillomavirus reached 71%. Here too, these are estimates derived from the same WUENIC exercise, not independent surveys.
The data are also reported by the Measles & Rubella Partnership, which confirms the figures for measles and rubella.
The limitations of this type of measurement must be stated. WUENIC estimates refer to average national coverage: they do not describe internal distribution, and a country with high average coverage may contain areas with very low coverage. The sources used for this article do not indicate the uncertainty range of the estimates or the list of the 57 countries with measles outbreaks. The material used does not provide a breakdown of the 13.5 million “zero-dose” children among conflict settings, remote areas and vaccine refusal — three situations that require different organizational responses.
The next verifiable check will be the following annual update of the same estimates, which will show whether the one-percentage-point recovery recorded in 2025 brings coverage back to 2019 levels or stops short of it.
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