The threat of antibiotic resistance — in charts

Overuse of antibiotics by humans and in the farming of meat and fish is driving increased microbial resistance and threatening the availability of life-saving treatments.

The World Health Organization calls antibiotic resistance one of the top 10 public health threats and the UN predicts up to 10m deaths a year from drug-resistant infections by 2050. Yet until recently there has been only a limited effort to measure trends in antibiotic use, their effects and to hold countries and companies to account. Governments, non-profits and investors alike are now starting to collect information to identify good and bad practices. Drug-resistant infections are a bigger problem in lower income countries.