health2022

Allergic rhinitis symptom prevalence (proxy for allergy ‘outburst’ susceptibility) by country

Country share of adults reporting allergic rhinitis (hay fever) symptoms—used as a proxy for population susceptible to seasonal allergy outbursts (2022).

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Key Insights

Global Average
16.7%
Median: 15.0%
Countries Covered
57
with available data
Highest
United States of America
30.0%
Lowest
Vietnam
6.0%
Top 5 Countries
1United States of America30.0%
2Australia29.0%
3Canada28.0%
4Netherlands28.0%
5New Zealand27.0%
By Region
Oceania28.0%(2 countries)
North America21.3%(4 countries)
Europe20.4%(23 countries)
South America15.0%(5 countries)
Other12.2%(6 countries)
Key Findings
  • Reported adult allergic rhinitis symptom prevalence spans roughly 6%–30% across included countries (2022 proxy).
  • Higher prevalence is observed in several high-income countries (e.g., USA, Australia, Netherlands, Canada, Sweden, UK).
  • Lower reported prevalence appears in parts of South/Southeast Asia (e.g., Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia), though underdiagnosis/underreporting may contribute.
  • European countries cluster in the mid-to-high range, consistent with substantial seasonal allergy susceptibility.

Country Rankings

Top 10 Countries

Bottom 10 Countries

Data Analysis

Value Distribution

How countries are distributed across the value range

Low (6.0%)High (30.0%)

Regional Comparison

Average values by world region (Global avg: 16.7%)

Oceania (2)
North America (4)
Europe (23)
South America (5)
Other (6)
Asia (15)
Africa (2)

About This Statistic

There is no globally standardized indicator for “outburst population” (people experiencing acute spikes) that is consistently reported by country across all regions. To enable a world map, this statistic uses the most comparable country-level proxy available: the prevalence of allergic rhinitis (hay fever/nasal allergy) symptoms among adults from international allergy survey reporting.

This proxy reflects the share of the population likely to experience seasonal symptom flare-ups during high-allergen periods (often pollen-driven), and it is commonly used to compare allergy burden between countries. It does not measure a specific short-term outburst event, but it approximates the underlying susceptible population that can drive visible “outbursts” when pollen/allergen conditions spike.

Methodology

Values represent the estimated percentage of adult respondents reporting allergic rhinitis (hay fever/nasal allergy) symptoms in internationally reported survey comparisons summarized by WAO. For the map, each country is assigned the reported prevalence percentage. This is used as a proxy for the ‘outburst population’—i.e., the share of people likely to experience symptom flare-ups when allergen conditions (often pollen) spike.

Full Data

Rank Country Value
1United States of America30.0%
2Australia29.0%
3Canada28.0%
4Netherlands28.0%
5New Zealand27.0%
6Sweden27.0%
7Denmark26.0%
8United Kingdom26.0%
9Ireland25.0%
10Japan25.0%
11Norway25.0%
12France24.0%
13Switzerland24.0%
14Belgium24.0%
15Germany23.0%
16Austria22.0%
17Spain21.0%
18Italy20.0%
19South Korea20.0%
20Czech Republic19.0%
21Portugal19.0%
22Poland18.0%
23Brazil18.0%
24Chile17.0%
25Greece17.0%
26Hungary16.0%
27Türkiye16.0%
28The Republic of North Macedonia16.0%
29Colombia15.0%
30Croatia15.0%
31Mexico14.0%
32Romania14.0%
33Bangladesh14.0%
34Bulgaria13.0%
35Guatemala13.0%
36South Africa13.0%
37Argentina13.0%
38Georgia12.0%
39Honduras12.0%
40Lebanon12.0%
41Peru12.0%
42Serbia12.0%
43Singapore12.0%
44United Arab Emirates12.0%
45Saudi Arabia11.0%
46Ukraine11.0%
47Islamic Republic of Iran10.0%
48Russian Federation10.0%
49People's Republic of China9.0%
50Morocco9.0%
51Thailand9.0%
52India8.0%
53Philippines8.0%
54Indonesia7.0%
55Pakistan7.0%
56Paraguay7.0%
57Vietnam6.0%
Showing 57 of 57 countries

Topics

Data Source

This data comes from World Allergy Organization (WAO) – White Book on Allergy (country-comparable survey reporting) (2022).

View Original Source